EI but no EAD Yet?

[joe_robin66 6]

Just out of curiosity, is there anyone crying out there that have their EI but no EAD card yet??

As the weeks pass...EI benefits paid = $0.00 as you wait for that card??

What I thought in the beginning, was that the EI was banked until I got my EAD card! HaHa...yeah right!!! I contacted EI Regular Benefits re this and they said that it is banked then had to get clarification (this day in age, there is no consistency in what information people tell you) from the Interstate Office that this is not the case. You get your EI benefits starting on the EAD effective date. If your EAD effective date is a date that corresponds to the already sent in EI cards and you never got paid for it, they may review it and give you the cashola.

[Colleens 40]

I called about something that is similar to this issue. My EAD was approved in Aug, but I didn't receive my card until this past weekend. I was looking into whether I would be able to back date my claim to that date. If I had started a job search (and could prove it with supporting documents) they would have back dated the claim. Since I knew that my claim was going to flip to maternity benefits starting this week, I didn't really bother with the job search, but now I wish I had at least put my resume up on monster and sent a few resume's off while I was waiting....it would heve been an extra couple thousand dollars in my pocket

It is not often that you get such a big discrepancy between your approval date and actually getting the card, but I would advise people to at least start a very basic job search when applying for AOS. That way if you are in a similar situation your claim can be back-dated.

[joe_robin66 6]

Your EAD card was approved in August but you didn't get the EAD Card till recently?...and when was your EI/Maternity to start?

[Colleens 40]

Your EAD card was approved in August but you didn't get the EAD Card till recently?...and when was your EI/Maternity to start?

I had to wait 4+ months for my bio appt, and they had approved my EAD during that time but couldn't issue the card until they had the biometrics to put on it. The effective date on my EAD card is Aug 9th, so as far as EI is concerned that is when I would have been able to work. I knew that my chances of getting a job would be pretty slim being 7 months pregnant at the time, so I didn't start a job search, and that my EI claim was set up to flip to my Maternity benefits asap (8 weeks before your due date is when you can start claiming maternity benefits). I became eligible for mat benefits starting this week. I still have the 2 week waiting period before I start receving my benefits, but at least it will finally be some income coming in!! Had I started a basic job search when I filed my AOS (or shortly after) I would have been able to submit proof of that ti EI and they would have paid my claim back to the point when my EAD was effective.