USCIS to Mail Evidence of Work Authorization to Certain E and L Nonimmigrant Spouses
Today (March 18, 2022) the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that beginning April 1, 2022, it will mail notices to certain E and L nonimmigrant spouses, specifically those who entered the United States before January 30, 2022 and who are the beneficiaries of an approved Form I-539 extension of status. These notices, along with an unexpired I-94, will serve as evidence of employment authorization. This is important news for these spouses, whose current I-94s do not reflect the new work authorized designation codes (i.e. “E2S”, “E3S”, “L2S”). On January 30, 2022, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began to annotate E and L spouse I-94 forms with the new codes, which are suitable evidence of US work authorization for I-94 purposes. Children of E and L nonimmigrants are not authorized to work and do not receive the new designations.