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| EAD - crucial for asylum seekers waiting for interviews Photo credit NPR, used under Creative Commons license |
On Monday,
a federal judge ordered the final approval of a nationwide class action
settlement agreement which will help
ensure that asylum seekers are not unlawfully prevented from working and
supporting their families while the government adjudicates their cases. The
changes will go into effect on December 3, 2013.
The agreement comes out of a case
filed in December 2011 on behalf of asylum seekers around the country that challenged
the government’s use of the “asylum clock” to determine when immigrants who
have applied for asylum may obtain permission to lawfully work in the U.S. The suit alleged that many asylum applicants
had been unlawfully denied the opportunity to obtain employment authorization
if their asylum applications have been pending for six months or more.
The settlement agreement will make
the process for getting work permits more transparent and fair and will leave
less room for government error. The settlement
agreement also provides the following benefits: asylum seekers with Immigration
Court cases may now present their asylum applications to the Court immediately,
without having to wait months for an initial hearing before an Immigration
Judge; certain asylum seekers whose cases have been pending on appeal will now
be able to obtain work authorization when the Board of Immigration Appeals
remands their cases to an Immigration Judge; asylum seekers and their attorneys
will be provided with more effective notice so that they do not inadvertently
accept hearing dates which preclude work authorization.
