The H-4 EAD delays that defined the first Trump administration are back. Houston immigration attorney Steven Brown, of Reddy Neumann Brown PC, says his firm is again seeing the same pattern it litigated heavily after the 2019 biometrics policy, only now compounded by the loss of the automatic extension that used to keep spouses working while a renewal sat in the queue.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Joseph Edlow’s back in a key role. Now he’s the director of USCIS, and we’re seeing these delays pop up again. They’re no longer bundling. They’re kind of bundling with the H-4, but not the EAD. And with the automatic extension gone, what good does that do with work authorization?”
The “automatic extension” Brown refers to is the up-to-540-day extension that let many EAD holders keep working past their card’s expiration while a timely renewal stayed pending. It ran on the regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 274a.13(d). A DHS interim final rule ended that automatic extension for renewal applications received on or after October 30, 2025. Applicants who filed before that date may still hold an extension if they otherwise qualify; everyone filing after it faces a hard stop at the card’s expiration date.
For H-4 spouses, who hold a (c)(26) EAD under 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(26), that change converts a processing delay into a work gap. The EAD is also tied to the underlying H-4 status, and Brown notes USCIS is processing the H-4 extension without adjudicating the EAD alongside it.
The delays are not yet at first-administration levels, but they are climbing.
mic What the Attorney Says
“The delays aren’t as bad yet. They’re not a year long, but there’s still some that are six, seven, eight months long. USCIS’s stand-alone EADs are 13 and a half months. It’s insane.”
The firm’s response is the same tool it has used for years on unreasonably delayed I-765s: a federal suit to compel a decision, filed around the three-month mark for individual cases as needed. Expedite requests through a congressman, the ombudsman, or USCIS itself, Brown and his partner Rahul Reddy agree, fail the overwhelming majority of the time.
A mandamus action rests on 28 U.S.C. § 1361, which gives district courts jurisdiction over an action “to compel an officer or employee of the United States or any agency thereof to perform a duty owed to the plaintiff,” and on the APA’s parallel command at 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) to “compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed.”
Brown is careful about what the lawsuit does and does not buy. It forces a decision; it does not force an approval.
mic What the Attorney Says
“We can sue to compel a decision. I want to be clear, if there’s a reason to deny it, USCIS still can deny it. I can count on one hand the number of H-4 EAD denials we’ve seen. It’s all because of issues with the H-1.”
In practice, the deadline that matters is the government’s response window. Once the complaint is served, the United States has 60 days to answer, and USCIS typically uses that window to adjudicate rather than litigate.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Once we serve the government through the mail with the lawsuit, they get 60 days to respond. They can make a decision on the EAD, or they can fight the lawsuit. Within that 60 days, we generally see a decision.”
Brown says the firm is not seeing much government pushback on H-4 EAD suits yet, though he cautions clients that the government can fight a case and that he cannot guarantee the 60-day result.
Two practical points fall out of the regulatory change. File the renewal as early as the rules allow, up to 180 days before the current card expires, because there is no longer a safety net behind the expiration date. And if an H-4 spouse’s EAD is the only work authorization in the household, treat a stalled renewal as a time-sensitive problem, not a routine wait: a gap now means an interruption in employment, not merely a delayed card.
Sources
- 8 C.F.R. § 274a.13: Application for employment authorization open_in_new
- 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12: Classes of aliens authorized to accept employment open_in_new
- 28 U.S.C. § 1361: Action to compel an officer of the United States to perform his duty open_in_new
- USCIS: Automatic Employment Authorization Document (EAD) Extension open_in_new
- Reddy Neumann Brown PC, Immigration update, June 16, 2026 open_in_new