Jane Doe v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

On October 30, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an interim final rule that makes it significantly more likely that tens of thousands of noncitizens will lose their authorization to work in the United States through no fault of their own. The interim final rule abruptly eliminated the agency’s longstanding policy of automatically extending work authorizations for noncitizens who had timely filed to renew their permits, but who had not received an answer because of backlogs at USCIS.

Representing an immigrant single mother who works as a translator and educator, Public Citizen and co-counsel Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project filed a lawsuit challenging the interim final rule. Our client relies on her work permit to pay for her family’s needs, qualify for a critical childcare subsidy, and maintain her own healthcare, and she is experiencing substantial stress from the prospect that she will experience a gap in her work authorization, through no fault of her own. On November 19, 2025, she submitted her application for renewal of her work authorization, which, absent an extension, will expire on June 23, 2026. The lawsuit challenges USCIS’s failure to follow rulemaking procedures required by law, as well as the substance of the new rule.

On May 19, 2026, we filed a motion to stay the rule and for a preliminary injunction requiring USCIS to provide applicants for renewal of evidence of the automatic extension, consistent with USCIS’s practices before issuance of the new rule.