How to get a work permit in the US

Before receiving a green card, immigrants who want to find a job must have a work permit (Employment Authorization Card).

A work permit is a document that allows foreign nationals who are temporarily in the country to legally work in the United States. A work permit is also the basis for obtaining a Social Security Number (SSN). This document can be obtained by holders of immigrant and some nonimmigrant visas. Work authorization is issued by USCIS upon submission of Form I-765. The permit itself is a plastic card with a person’s personal data and an indication of its validity period.

The validity of a work permit in the United States is 1 year. The following categories of foreigners have the right to it:

• Refugees and persons granted asylum, their spouses and children;
• Asylum seekers;
• International students who want to undergo optional practical training in their profession;
• Applicants for permanent resident status;
• People applying for temporary refugee status or having this status;
• Persons belonging to certain nationalities (for example, citizens of Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands);
• Spouses and children of persons working in diplomatic institutions and international agencies;
• Persons who are in the United States on employment-based visas;
• Persons who are in the United States on family visas, as the bride or groom of a US citizen.

You can fill out an I-765 form for obtaining a work permit in the United States either independently or by contacting a lawyer. The services of the latter will cost $ 70-100.

All information required to fill out the form is on the site of the Citizenship and Immigration Services. In addition to the formsyou can find there detailed instructionshow to fill it and form to receive electronic alerts from the Citizenship and Immigration Service about the acceptance and further promotion of the application.

So, we start to fill in the form.

We do not write anything in the top field - this field is filled out by an employee of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

We start filling from the line - I am applying for ... (I am applying for)

Check the box next to the item - Permission to accept employment.

There are also two more points in the form of its submission options:

1. If you are not just applying for a work permit in the United States for the first time, but you already have one, but its annual validity period has expired. Then you check the box - Renewal of my permission to accept employment.
2. If you lose your work permit, you must select the option - Replacement of lost employment authorization document.

Screen shot from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website

Next, fill each item, starting with the first.

1. Specify your name, surname, patronymic (if it is indicated in the passport), write everything exactly as in your passport.

2. Other names: write your other first and last names here if you have ever changed them. Women indicate their maiden name. If there is no such thing, write - NONE.

3. Your valid mailing address in USA.

4. Specify the country of your citizenship.

5. Specify your place of birth: city and country.

6. Your date of birth.

7. Your gender.

8. Family status.

9. If you have ever had a Social Security Number (SNN), please provide it. If not, write NONE.

Screen shot from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website

10. Here you specify your alien identification number, which is assigned to you according to your migration status or the number from the I-94 form. The number from the I-94 form can be found here.

11. At this point, you are asked if you have ever applied for a work permit in the United States. Mark yes or no. If yes, then you need to specify the filing date, in which office the documents were submitted and what was the result.

12. Here you need to specify the date of your last entry into the United States.

13. At this point, you must specify the place of your last entry into the United States - the city, state.

14. Indicate your status in the United States, that is, the basis on which you last crossed the border of the country. This could be the status of a tourist - B1/B2, a student - F1 - and so on.

15. Your current status as you are in the USA.

This point essentially duplicates the previous one. Since the final decision on their permanent stay in the country has not yet been made for persons who are eligible to obtain a work permit in the United States, the basis for their presence in the country does not change from the moment of arrival. If you crossed the US border, for example, on a tourist visa, then in this paragraph of the form you also write - B1/B2.

16. Here you need to specify your category, that is, on what basis a person applies for permission to work in the United States. You will need to select the required category according to your migration status. Category can be determined by viewing Instructions for Form I-765. For example, pending interviews on political asylum indicate the category — (c) (8) and so on, according to the instructions.

17. This item is completed only by a certain category of people, namely (c)(3)(C) - students with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics for a 24-month extension of additional practical training in the company. Here you need to indicate your degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, the name of your employer and the identification number of the company where you will do this internship.

18. This item is also completed only by certain categories, namely (c)(26) - spouses of people in the United States on an H-1B work visa who also want to obtain work authorization. At this point, they need to indicate the number received by the main spouse on the H-1B visa.

At the end of the form, the first signature is yours. Behind it you put the date you filled out the form and your phone number.

The second signature below is the signature of a lawyer or official who helped you fill out the document. If you have worked with a lawyer, he must also complete a G-28 form in which he needs to provide his details. It should be put in an envelope with all your documents.

Together with the I-765 form, you need to send such documents (in individual cases, the list may differ):

— a copy of the international passport (main page, visa page);

— copy of Form I-94;

— a copy of a document confirming that you have submitted an application to change your migration status in the United States, your case has been accepted by the migration service and is in the process of being reviewed;

- 2 photographs of passport size - 2x2 inches (approximately 5x5 cm), taken no earlier than 30 days before the date of filling out the form. On the back of each photo you must write your first and last name in English and your alien registration number, which identifies your migration status;

- a copy of your social security number (SSN), if available;

— Form G-28, if you contacted a lawyer.

Today, the filing fee for the I-765 form is $ 380. This figure may vary annually. But there are categories that are exempted from paying the fee for submitting an I-765 form for the first time. These are categories such as:

(A) (3) - refugees;

(A) (4) - pardoned as refugees;

(A) (5) - immigrants who seek political asylum;

(A)(7) - filing a form on an N-8 or N-9 nonimmigrant visa (parents of immigrants of special status);

(A)(8) are citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands or Palau;

(A)(10)—people who are permitted to refuse deportation;

(A) (16) - victims of severe forms of human trafficking (T-1);

(A)(19) - U-1 nonimmigrant status (victims of crimes such as rape, domestic violence or torture);

(C)(1), (c)(4), or (c)(7) - foreign rulers, international organizations or NATO employees;

(C) (8) - applicants for political asylum;

(C)(31) are Violence Against Women Act plaintiffs.

Form I-765 is filled for each family member separately. Documents for a family can be put in one envelope all together. On behalf of children up to 14, the form is signed by one of their parents or legal representative.

If you would like to additionally subscribe to an email notification about when your case will be accepted and how it is progressing (this is best done), then you need to fill out another short form - Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application / Petition Acceptance. This is a subscription to receive email notifications about the progress of your application. In this form, at the very bottom you will only need to indicate your first name, last name, email and phone number. And you need to put this form first in the envelope, then Form I-765 and all your copies of documents.

Form G-1145 can only be completed on one person.

It will be necessary to send the envelope to certain addresses, depending on the state where you live, and the postal service (USPostal Service or Express mail and courier deliveries). For each category of work permit listed their addresses. You can find them here.

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