Friend needs help! EAD expires in 2 weeks

[heamatite2000 34]

Hi everyone!

 

so my friend’s EAD expires in 2 weeks and she is meant to be travelling in 3 weeks (she is AOS and currently waiting for an interview for her green card). She said her lawyer told her to try and ring some immigration court and to bring all her documents when she travels to show when she re-enters.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I told her that she can NOT travel at all if she has an expired EAD, and I also told her that I believe she can’t work either unless she has some sort of valid document - like a non-expired EAD? (She said her lawyer told her she can carry on working if she’s going through the process still).
 

just want some clarification that what I’m telling her is correct and that her lawyer has really badly messed things up for her!! I also asked if her lawyer had sent off for her renewal of the EAD and she told me no! 

thanks in advance!!

[mushroomspore 3,044]

23 minutes ago, heamatite2000 said:

Hi everyone!

 

so my friend’s EAD expires in 2 weeks and she is meant to be travelling in 3 weeks (she is AOS and currently waiting for an interview for her green card). She said her lawyer told her to try and ring some immigration court and to bring all her documents when she travels to show when she re-enters.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I told her that she can NOT travel at all if she has an expired EAD, and I also told her that I believe she can’t work either unless she has some sort of valid document - like a non-expired EAD? (She said her lawyer told her she can carry on working if she’s going through the process still).
 

just want some clarification that what I’m telling her is correct and that her lawyer has really badly messed things up for her!! I also asked if her lawyer had sent off for her renewal of the EAD and she told me no! 

thanks in advance!!

She absolutely should NOT travel and she will NOT be allowed to work once that EAD expires. She also should fire that lawyer because the lawyer is completely incorrect. Why has she not sent the EAD renewal herself then? And why did she wait this long to take action? I believe you can submit an EAD renewal 180 days prior to the EAD's expiration. That is more than plenty of time to get the renewal in queue and make proper plans.

 

Tell her she has 2 options here:

 

1. Cancel the travel and stay inside the USA until AOS is done.

2. Go on her trip, but it will be a one-way trip because she will not be allowed back in until she gets the right visa to enter the USA again, which is probably the spousal visa and takes 12-18+ months to obtain.

Edited May 18, 2021 by mushroomspore

[Timona 4,207]

She should have renewed it 6 months ago. 

Just tell her to renew it herself. It is a simple 20 mins paper fill. 

[heamatite2000 34]

23 minutes ago, mushroomspore said:

She absolutely should NOT travel and she will NOT be allowed to work once that EAD expires. She also should fire that lawyer because the lawyer is completely incorrect. Why has she not sent the EAD renewal herself then? And why did she wait this long to take action? I believe you can submit an EAD renewal 180 days prior to the EAD's expiration. That is more than plenty of time to get the renewal in queue and make proper plans.

 

Tell her she has 2 options here:

 

1. Cancel the travel and stay inside the USA until AOS is done.

2. Go on her trip, but it will be a one-way trip because she will not be allowed back in until she gets the right visa to enter the USA again, which is probably the spousal visa and takes 12-18+ months to obtain.

Thanks for the help!
 

She hasn’t renewed it herself yet because she has literally only told me all of this about 1 hour ago and she doesn’t know anything about the immigration process as she allowed her lawyer to do everything!! 

[payxibka 10,045]

EAD is not a travel document 

[heamatite2000 34]

1 hour ago, payxibka said:

EAD is not a travel document 

My EAD I had before I got my green card was a travel document as well 

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, heamatite2000 said:

My EAD I had before I got my green card was a travel document as well 

EAD is employment authorization NOT travel.  Advance Parole is a travel document 

[heamatite2000 34]

4 minutes ago, payxibka said:

EAD is employment authorization NOT travel.  Advance Parole is a travel document 

Sorry I probs meant EAD/AP combo card

[SalishSea 17,837]

9 hours ago, heamatite2000 said:

Hi everyone!

 

so my friend’s EAD expires in 2 weeks and she is meant to be travelling in 3 weeks (she is AOS and currently waiting for an interview for her green card). She said her lawyer told her to try and ring some immigration court and to bring all her documents when she travels to show when she re-enters.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I told her that she can NOT travel at all if she has an expired EAD, and I also told her that I believe she can’t work either unless she has some sort of valid document - like a non-expired EAD? (She said her lawyer told her she can carry on working if she’s going through the process still).
 

just want some clarification that what I’m telling her is correct and that her lawyer has really badly messed things up for her!! I also asked if her lawyer had sent off for her renewal of the EAD and she told me no! 

thanks in advance!!

1) EAD is for employment, not travel.

 

If you mean the AP/combo card, why did she not renew it?  It's free.  She could have renewed it months ago.

[Verrou 1,962]

8 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

1) EAD is for employment, not travel.

 

If you mean the AP/combo card, why did she not renew it?  It's free.  She could have renewed it months ago.

Probably because incompetent lawyer 

I had many friends who hired lawyer until they got their GC yet they didn’t know anything. They just paid lawyer to do that for them. 

[EvaYogiBear 0]

22 hours ago, heamatite2000 said:

Hi everyone!

 

so my friend’s EAD expires in 2 weeks and she is meant to be travelling in 3 weeks (she is AOS and currently waiting for an interview for her green card). She said her lawyer told her to try and ring some immigration court and to bring all her documents when she travels to show when she re-enters.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I told her that she can NOT travel at all if she has an expired EAD, and I also told her that I believe she can’t work either unless she has some sort of valid document - like a non-expired EAD? (She said her lawyer told her she can carry on working if she’s going through the process still).
 

just want some clarification that what I’m telling her is correct and that her lawyer has really badly messed things up for her!! I also asked if her lawyer had sent off for her renewal of the EAD and she told me no! 

thanks in advance!!

She needs to send in a EAD/combo renewal asap, as mentioned by others here, it is free to renew. As long as USCIS receives the renewal request BEFORE the card expires, she CAN continue WORKING, because an 180 day extension is automatically granted, as long as it's done before the current card expires. She will then get something in the mail called I-797C, which is basically a letter stating they have received her request to renew and confirming her work authorization has been automatically extended.

 

Regarding travel, as far as I know she CANNOT TRAVEL with an expired Advanced parole card. I am not 100% percent sure of this because I haven't needed to travel outside the US, and maybe there is some expedited/urgent travel request option, but I believe the advanced parole part of the combo card is not automatically extended,  unfortunately. So she has to remain in the US until she gets her new combo card. Apparently renewals can take up to 6 months at the moment (as opposed to the usual 2/3) due to the backlog caused by Covid. 

 

The info above is based on the fact that I also have a combo card that will expire shortly (in June),  and I submitted my renewal request last month. I have been researching a lot about it and my lawyer, unfortunately, is not doing her job and also "forgot" to tell me to renew it months ago. As per my explanation above, I should be fine to continue working, but unfortunately I will not be able to leave the US until I get my new combo card. 

 

Good luck to your friend!

 

 

[Demise 1,289]

23 hours ago, heamatite2000 said:

Hi everyone!

 

so my friend’s EAD expires in 2 weeks and she is meant to be travelling in 3 weeks (she is AOS and currently waiting for an interview for her green card). She said her lawyer told her to try and ring some immigration court and to bring all her documents when she travels to show when she re-enters.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I told her that she can NOT travel at all if she has an expired EAD, and I also told her that I believe she can’t work either unless she has some sort of valid document - like a non-expired EAD? (She said her lawyer told her she can carry on working if she’s going through the process still).
 

just want some clarification that what I’m telling her is correct and that her lawyer has really badly messed things up for her!! I also asked if her lawyer had sent off for her renewal of the EAD and she told me no! 

thanks in advance!!

It is possible (if unlikely these days) to get emergency advance parole. Basically schedule an infopass appointment, bring in form I-131, the filing fee, and supporting documentation, and hope for the best. Just note that this is more applicable to cases of: relative died, gotta go, rather than having a business trip while you had ample time to apply for a renewal and deal with L2 officers to request an expedite.

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/travel-documents/emergency-travel

 

You can work on an expired EAD with a major BUT. A lot of categories, C09 from AOS included, give you an automatic I-180 extension on the receipt notice as long as you timely file for renewal, which means that USCIS needs to get the I-765 while the old EAD is still valid. The automatic extension applies only to the EAD and not AP on combo cards.