On July 30, 2004, the United States Citizenship and Immigration
Service ("Immigration Service") announced a new policy
relative to the validity period of Work Authorization Documents.
("Work Cards") Work Cards enables aliens, who are awaiting
the Immigration service to finalize processing of various immigration
applications, to legally work in the United States, as well as
obtain a Social Security Card and other important Government documents.
(e.g., Driver’s License; State Identification; etc...) To date,
all Work Cards issued by the immigration Service were valid for
1 year.
The Immigration Service’s new rule indicates that the agency will begin issuing Work Cards for periods in excess of 1 year, as well as periods less than 1 year. The decision as to the length of the Work Card will be left to the discretion of the Immigration Service officers.
The Immigration Service realized many of the cases that it processes last for periods well in excess of 1 year. Therefore, in cases where the Immigration Service believes will take more than 1 year to process, the agency will issue Work Cards for an appropriate period in excess of 1 year. Obviously, the benefits Associates with receiving a Work Card for a period in excess of 1 year are avoiding unnecessary re-applications and backlogs; avoiding paying additional filing fees; and receiving State-issued documents, such as Driver’s License or Non-Driver Identification Card, for longer periods of time.
However, in limited circumstances, where the Immigration service determines that an applicant’s case will be adjudicated within 1 year, a Work Card will be issued for an appropriate period less than 1 year. In our opinion, the only such scenario is when the applicant applies for a renewal of Work Card and the Immigration Service determines that the underlying case will be shortly (i.e. within the next 1 year) adjudicated.
All of us at Popescu, Iosepovici & Associates remain committed to providing our Romanian community with the latest and most relevant Immigration Law information. We hope that all of you are enjoying a peaceful and joyous summer of 2004.
POPESCU, IOSEPOVICI & ASSOCIATES
