In the latest Weekly Wright Report:

• USCIS Announces Expedited Processing of EAD Work Permit Renewals – read now

USCIS Announces Expedited Processing of EAD Work Permit Renewals

By Jan Pederson

Health Care workers with current Employment Authorization Document (EAD) work permits that have expired or will expire within thirty days can request expedited processing of the EAD renewal.  The benefit applies only to renewals of EAD work permits.  You must submit a letter from your employer outlining how you fit the definition of health care worker, and include a copy of your EAD receipt with a copy of your last EAD.

Health care workers are defined by USCIS as the following:

• • Workers, including laboratory personnel, that perform critical clinical, biomedical and other research, development, and testing needed for COVID-19 or other diseases.
  • Healthcare providers including, but not limited to, physicians (MD/DO/DPM); dentists; psychologists; midlevel practitioners; nurses; emergency medical services personnel, assistants and aids; infection control and quality assurance personnel; phlebotomists; pharmacists; physical, respiratory, speech and occupational therapists and assistants; social workers; optometrists; speech pathologists; chiropractors; diagnostic and therapeutic technicians; and radiology technologists.
  • Workers required for effective clinical, command, infrastructure, support service, administrative, security, and intelligence operations across the direct patient care and full healthcare and public health spectrum. Personnel examples may include, but are not limited, to accounting, administrative, admitting and discharge, engineering, accrediting, certification, licensing, credentialing, epidemiological, source plasma and blood donation, food service, environmental services, housekeeping, medical records, information technology and operational technology, nutritionists, sanitarians, etc.
  • Emergency medical services workers including clinical interns.
  • Prehospital workers included but not limited to urgent care workers. o Inpatient & hospital workers (e.g. hospitals, critical access hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities including skilled nursing facilities, inpatient hospice, ambulatory surgical centers, etc.).
  • Outpatient care workers (e.g. end-stage-renal disease practitioners and staff, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, community mental health clinics, organ transplant/procurement centers, and other ambulatory care settings/providers, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities, etc.).
  • Home care workers (e.g. home health care, at-home hospice, home dialysis, home infusion, etc.).
  • Workers at long-term care facilities, residential and community-based providers (e.g. Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities, Religious Nonmedical Health Care Institutions, etc.).
  • Workplace safety workers (i.e., workers who anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and control workplace conditions that may cause workers’ illness or injury).

If you qualify for this blanket expedite, please contact your WCS immigration attorney or paralegal at jan@wcslaw.com. USCIS can be contacted by phone at 800-375-5283, or you can request an expedite online.

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