The DHS Secretary announcement reflects that the two-year EAD is
issued to those I-485 applicants "if their I-485 applications are
expected to be pending for more than a year." The question remains how
they would determine it. Among others, two questions may be relevant
here.
The first question is the point of time of determination of "expected
to be pending more than a year." The second question involves the
basis of the determination of "pending more than a year." As for the
first questions, there can be two different points of time: At the
time of "filing" of I-765 application or at the time of "adjudication"
of I-765.
Since it is the USCIS that will determine whether to issue one-year or
two-year EAD based on these standards rather than at the request of
the applicants, the agency is likely to determine the eligibility of
two-year EAD based on the situation at the time of filing or at the
time of adjudication. Generally, the USCIS has been adopting "filing
date" rather than "adjudication date" for similar situations. We hope
that the agency takes a similar practice in the two-year EAD
eligibility determination point of time.
As for the second question, the basis of determination of "expected
one-year pending" can come from the visa number retrogression in the
Visa Bulletin or the agency's backlogs in I-485 processing.
People will remember that the USCIS has already changed its EAD
regulation allowing the USCIS to issue an EAD for more than one year.
However, implementation of this revised rule has been deferred or
delayed until now. - www.greencardfamily.com/news/news2008/news2008_0805.htm
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