GIP Employer Alert – E and L Derivative Status Admission Codes Updates  

This past November, as part of an earlier settlement agreement, the USCIS agreed to make work authorization incidental to L or E dependent status. As such, these dependent spouse categories are no longer required to apply for employment authorization separately. It has just been confirmed that as of January 31st, 2022, CBP will issue I-94s to L and E spouses upon entry into the US that will reflect updated Class of Admission (COA) codes. For I-9 purposes, I-94s with the new COA code can be used in lieu of the EAD card. 

In the meantime, we are still awaiting further guidance on (1) the procedure for L and E spouses to update their previously issued I-94 to reflect the new COA code if they entered the United States prior to January 31, 2022, and (2) how USCIS will annotate the class of admission on I-797 approval notices for qualifying dependent petitions. GIP will send out an alert as soon as we receive these updates.