Work permits are a necessary document for many immigrants who wish to work in the United States. However, obtaining a work permit can be a lengthy process, and it can take several months or even years to receive one. For some immigrants, this delay is unnecessary and expensive. However, there are now alternative ways to obtain a work permit much more quickly.

How to Get a Work Permit Faster

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new set of rules on March 29 that allows some immigration benefit applicants to undergo accelerated processing. In an effort to reduce the agency’s immigration backlog, the new regulation is one of a series of reforms by the USCIS.

Premium processing of EAD (Employment Authorization Documents) applications, which allow foreign nationals to work in the United States while they await a judgment on their asylum or other legal status, will now be available to those who apply under the new regulation.

Who Else Qualifies for Premium Processing?

Under the new USA rules for work permits, premium processing is available to certain qualifying applicants. Eligible individuals include those who have been granted asylum, refugee status, or a TPS (Temporary Protected Status) designation, as well as their spouses and children.

Additionally, certain individuals who have been granted a waiver under the unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility may also be eligible for premium processing.

For people currently outside the country, employers who are seeking to employ a nonimmigrant worker in a number of occupations can also use premium processing to expedite the adjudication of their petition.

Premium processing is also available for any applicant who is seeking an employment-based visa and who can pay the premium processing fee. This fee guarantees that the application will be given a priority review by USCIS, and that a decision will be made within a shorter time.

The new USA work permit rules also make premium processing available to certain spouses and children of employment-based visa holders. These individuals are known as “derivative beneficiaries.”