Tired to renew EAD!

J

Jeromy

Registered Users (C)
Hi, there,

I am a granted asylee, I am just tired for renewing EAD every year. Read from this board that I can get a unrestricted SS card for employment. I have SS card, but not from asylum, what shoud I do? Can anyone who has detail please educate me? Many thanks!
 
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Asylees don\'t need EAD to work. If you are already working and you can keep your current job you don\'t need an EAD. If you have a current RTD you can also use it to prove your eligibility to work to your new employer.

I was laid off last March and I claimed for unemployment insurance. They raised my work eligibility question. At that time my EAD was expired so I had to fax them my I-94 and asylum granting letter. And soon after I found a new job. By then my RTD just arrived so I used it to show my new company I could work for them.

Tim
 
How about my orginal SSN card?

Thanks, Jack,

Your instruction is pretty clear. But how about my orginal SSN card? Are they going to replace it and give me a new number? I definitely hope not! Please clearify. Thanks. -Jeromy
 
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Please don\'t make statements like "asylees don\'t need EAD to work." Because that is not a law or a policy under the INA. We had an elaborate discussion on this issue a while back in this forum. Look in our old posts.
  The fact of the matter is that eventhough DHHS started issuing SS card with unrestricted employment conditions to asylees the INS still encourages asylees to apply for the EAD. When INS called me for I-485 interview in May 2001 they requested to bring my "unexpired EAD" to the interview. Fortunately I had a valid EAD to take to the interview and there was no problem.
 
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That\'s correct. There are very few conditions under which one\'s SS# can be changed. In most cases SS# remains the same from birth to death.
 
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Thanks for discussing this issue. My understanding is that asylees don\'t need EAD to work. Asylees are allowed to work by INA. There is no requirement in any law or government regulation that you have to have EAD to work.

EAD is for asylee\'s convinence. When you need to establish your eligibility to work with you employer there are many alternative documents to choose from such as Refugee Travel Document. EAD has its advantage in that your employer won\'t know you\'re an asylee if that\'s important to you.

Unrestricted SS Card is still very worthwhile to get. Since it\'s permanent and there is no application fee.

I don\'t believe you would have trouble in adjustment to permanent resident because you don\'t have an EAD.

Those are my understandings and hope more discussion will clarify this matter.

Tim
 
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Yes I know that there was a long discussion on this board about if it\'s necessary to have an EAD. It\'s not necessary to have an EAD by law.

But people may not understand the law perfectly. So there are lots of confusions, even among immigration officials. That\'s especially true regarding laws concerning us asylees. We all know lots of incidents about those.

So in my opinion it\'s ultimately a personal choice on where you spend your time, energy and money.

I personally choose not to spend money and time on EADs any more. That won\'t affect my employment in anyway since now I have an unrestricted SS card. On the adjustment side it might not be a problem at all. I guess there is slim chance that it could become a trouble. Even if that happens it would just be inconvinence. I might have to educate some immigration officers. So which do you choose, to apply for an EAD every year or to take a slim chance that you have to make extra effort once to get your GC?

Does anyone here know or hear about any incident that someone did have hassle getting GC because of not having an EAD? From one post on the last discussion some one mentioned he went to interview with clients a lot and that EAD question was never raised.

Those are my two cents opinion.

Tim
 
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Yes, it is a matter of personal choice now. And if you ask this question to different IOs , chances are that each will give you different answers. I personally called NSC toll free number and asked this question. The response I got was " Yes, asylees still need to renew their EAD on yearly basis." But when I mentioned the DHHS policy update the IO didn\'t seem to know anything about it. When Gilbert called the "INS HQ" he was given a different answer.

I cannot advice asylees whether they should renew their EADs or not. But I can simply tell stories from my experiences.
At the latest job interview that I went to less than one week ago I had to fill out the I-9. The I-9 still asks for the applicants Immigration status; the choices being (1) A citizen or Ntl. of the US (2) A LPR of the US (3) An alien authorized to work until_____ .
When I marked choice #3 the HR secretary asked me to show my EAD. I don\'t think the HR department at this company has been informed of the latest DHHS policy. If I didn\'t have my EAD I probably could have showed her the DHHS letter. But luckily I had my valid EAD so I didn\'t have to go thru the pain of explaining the long story to her.
  Another incident took place at my I485 interview like I have afore mentioned. Thank god I didn\'t have to worry about the question what if I didn\'t have my valid EAD.

 This issue is a good example of the lack of incooperation between different Federal Agencies; namely the INS and DHHS. The INS needs to revise the I-9 form and make sure that all of their officers are aware of the new policies. But the INS as we know it today is a big FUBR chaotic organization. Hopefully Mr. Ziglar\'s restructuring plans will bring some posstive improvements to the agency.
 
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We live in an imperfect world. Although there is a law in the INA clearly prohibiting the employers from discriminating asylees and refugees, thing work differently in the real world. Most employers are affraid to give us permanent positions because of the uncertainty of our immigration status: one could argue that "indefinite stay" is not as reliable as "Permanent stay." To the employers it doesn\'t matter if you\'re an asylee, H4, ...etc, but rather they look at if you have temporary stay or permanent stay in the US. In fact it was the reason given by the Syrian-Jewish asylee doctor to Representative Rick Lazio (R-NY) in his lobbying efforts to change the asylee adjustment law. Well, it worked for them and the Congress passed a law exempting certain Syrian-Jewish asylees from the 10K quota.

   This issue was also brought up during the Senate hearing in May 2001. I am guessing may be that\'s why the DHHS came up with the new policy to issue unrestricted SS cards to the asylees.

 Yes I agree that unrestricted SS card is very worthwhile getting. But it would be nice if that is the only thing we have to show to the employers for employment eligibility, and provided that we don\'t have to answer the Residency question in I-9.

 I didn\'t have any trouble at my I-485 interview because fortunately I was able to show my valid EAD. But it makes one wonder what if he wasn\'t able to show it to the IO. It would be nice if others who have been to asylee I-485 interviews can share their experience in this matter. It is very hard for me to believe it, but it seems that I am the only one sharing experiences with I-485 interviews etc. WHERE ARE THE OTHER ASYLEES WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN ADJUSTED TO LPR OR ATLEAST BEEN TO AN INTERVIEW?
 
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I have one question. When you get a new job you need to submit documents to prove that you\'re able to work legally. After you are hired does the employer still need to verify your work eligibility once your original document expires? My impression is that employers can only ask for the documents once for new hiring. Does the law permits or requires them to do it again?

I had one job which I still had my first EAD current when they hired me. It expired less than one month later and I never applied for another one. They never raised the issue.

Another point is about I-9. In the instruction of I-9 it is stipulated that employers have no right to ask which documents employees to use for verification. It is up to employees to choose which ones to use. And a combination of driver\'s license and unrestricted SS card is enough. A current RTD alone is enough also.
 
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How about independent contractors? Contractors don\'t need documents to work, do they?

Another hypothetic question? If you\'re an asylee and you have enough money to live without working. Do you still need EADs for adjustment?
 
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Tim, yes employers have to verify work eligibility when the original document expires. But happens that not all of them do it. If they are audited by INS, they have to show that I-9 form updated.
You are right about that EAD is not the only one document to show eligibility, asylees have also the option of using RTD or I-94 stating "employment authorized".
Also, Driver\'s License and unrestricted SS should be enough but not all employers understand that(or don\'t want to), and even though the instruction for I-9 stipulates that employers have no right to ask for specific document in practice that not always happens.
I believe there is a recent legislation saying that persons that have worked without authorization are banned for Permanent Resident Status, and this is why INS asks for EAD to LPR\'s interviewers, maybe Gilbert or Jack can provide clues regarding this legislation. Again, if you do not have the EAD during the interview, you will have to explain that you have been showing work eligibility with RTD, I-94, DL and SSC, etc. and hope the IIO will understand your explanation.
 
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In my own experience they do not check it again from time to time. INS audits are very unusual in the US (except for small border towns and under special circumstances.). But these are uncertain times right now.

 Here\'s what I found in the I-9 form:

"ANTI-DISCRIMINATION NOTICE: It is illegal to discriminate against work eligible individuals. Employers cannot specify which document(s) they will accept from an employee. The refusal to hire an individual because of future expiration date may also consitute illegal discrimination."

 But if you look at Section 2 of the I-9 form labeled "Employer Review and Verification." It reads like this :

" To be completed and signed by employer. Examine one document from list A OR examine one document from List B and one from List C as listed on the reverse of this form and record the title, number and expiration date, if any."

 So the INS does ask employers to examine the employee for employment eligibility document. Strictly speaking you are correct: the employee can just hand out one document from List A (driver\'s license), and one document from List B (unrestricted SS card). But I suppose it is NOT against the law for the HR person to ask the job applicant for his/her immigration status because that question is asked by the INS itself in I-9 form.
 
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Dear Alanpero,

  I\'ve also heard (and read it somewhere on the internet) about the legislation you are referring to. I will try to find it again and post it here when I do. I don\'t know for what reason I was asked to show my EAD during that I-485 interview, but I swear I was asked to show it.
  But with the new DHHS policy INS can not say for sure that just because an asylee does not have his/her EAD that doesn\'t mean he or she has been working illegally. Pretty darn confusing; thank god I\'m not a practicing lawyer or an Immigration Officer.
 
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Dear Alanpero,

 A friend told me that if for any reason one can be banned for PR status those reason can be found under the ACT212 of the INA. I have no idea what he told me. I\'m directly quoting what he just told me. So may be with some help from people in here we can find it in ACT212 of the INA:

http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/lpBin/lpex...emplates&fn=document-frame.htm#slb-act212

I am too tired today to read the whole darn thing. If any of you guys find it in there please highlight it and post the abstract in here.

Thanks
 
Found it! Needle in a Hay Stack

"(II) Asylees.-No period of time in which an alien has a bona fide application for asylum pending under section 208 shall be taken into account in determining the period of unlawful presence in the United States under clause (i) unless the alien during such period was employed without authorization in the United States. "

It\'s under Act212 of the INA. I am not entirely surely what it means though. I could be wrong. In my humble opinion I think it means that people who work without authorization during while their BON FIDE application (while asylum has not been granted) for asylum was pending can be banned for LPR.
 
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Thanks for the info.

I know that one can be banned from getting a GC because of illegal employment. But Asylees CAN LEGALLY WORK for any employer.

If you\'re asylee even if you don\'t have any papers you CAN STILL LEGALLY WORK.

So asylees can\'t be banned from getting GCs because of lack of EADs.

Asylees are authorized to work no matter if you have EADs or not by INA.

An analogy is that you\'re a US citizen if you were born anywhere within the US. It doesn\'t matter if you don\'t have a birth certificate. It doesn\'t matter if you don\'t have a SSN. It doesn\'t matter if you don\'t have a passport.

If you don\'t have either of them and you want to get a US passport then you can provide other evidences, like testimony of people who know the fact you were born in the US.
 
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"(II) Asylees.-No period of time in which an alien has a bona fide application for asylum PENDING under section 208 shall be taken into account in determining the period of unlawful presence in the United States under clause (i) unless the alien during SUCH PERIOD was employed without authorization in the United States.

Please note it talks about when your asylum application is PENDING. At that time you\'re not an asylee yet.
 
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