In recent years, the government backlogs have become so important that the median processing time for certain adjustment of status applications is close or greater than 1 year. This is due to several factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic which has caused lots of delays, but also the fact that USCIS interviews used to be waived for employment-based adjustment applicants.
This new policy has been updated in the USCIS Policy Manual and applies to applicants seeking adjustment of status under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). However, this won’t affect replacement EADs that will continue to be issued for the same validity dates as the original EAD. Those replacement EADs are in the case the card has been lost, stolen, mutilated or instances when the original card contained erroneous information such as a mistake on the spelling of a name.
This is certainly a great news for thousands of adjustment applicants who are eager to obtain their green cards, and it was made possible by the hard work of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and fervent immigration lawyers and advocates.
