Over the last year, the Trump administration has made significant changes not only to asylum applications but also to work permit authorizations for asylum seekers. From new fees for applications to shorter validity periods for work permits, the changes have immigration experts worried that legal work avenues for asylum seekers are effectively being shut down.
“The overarching message that this administration is trying to send to asylum seekers, or people that are fleeing their countries of origin due to persecution, is ‘Don’t come here,’” said Ana Pottratz Acosta, a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. “They want to make the atmosphere as unwelcoming as possible to asylum seekers and immigrants writ large.” Pottratz Acosta leads the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic, part of the Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans.
Asylum applicants are the largest group of work permit holders in the United States.
A study published in March by workpermits.us, a Washington, D.C., organization that produces research and updates on federal work permit policy, found that Minnesota is home to 18,000 asylum applicant workers who contribute $810 million in income to the state’s annual economy and $101 million in state and local taxes.
These workers are spread across different industries, with a majority in hospitality, retail and manufacturing.
Most of these changes were written into the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill act, or HR-1, signed into law in July of last year by President Donald Trump. The changes will impact the 18,000 asylum applicant workers in the state in one way or another.
“Multiple changes, both regulatory and policy level, are making it harder to keep and maintain work permits,” Cristina Moreno, policy counsel at Workpermits.us, told Sahan Journal. “It’s like death by a thousand cuts.”
Asylum seekers, who often have to wait as long as five years or more for an interview on their asylum case, can work in the country with an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
They are eligible to apply for employment authorization after their asylum application has been pending for 150 days, after which the USCIS takes up to 30 days to issue a work permit. That adds up to a 180-day waiting and processing period.
The changes asylum seekers face
Following is a breakdown of what it now looks like to apply for asylum and work authorization. These changes affect both people who apply for asylum directly with USCIS (affirmative asylum) and those applying as part of a case in Immigration Court (defensive asylum):
1. Fees for initial work authorization applications:
Historically, the application for the first EAD has been free for asylum seekers. Now it will cost $550 to apply for the initial work permit. Every application filed on or after July 22 last year will be subject to this fee.
“What makes that so shocking is that asylum seekers are not able to work prior to this,” said Tracy Roy, legal director at Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “That means you have to come up with $560 after being in the United States for a somewhat considerable amount of time without being able to work lawfully, so that is a huge burden on folks.”
2. Renewal fees and reduced validity period for work authorizations:
Renewals for work permits will also cost significantly more. For renewals filed on or after July 22 last year, there is now a supplemental fee of $275 for each renewal over and above the prior $520 fee, bringing each renewal fee up to $795. Applicants can get a $50 relief if they file the renewal online. For families filing together, these costs are multiplied per family member, creating substantial financial barriers.
The increased fees also come with a shorter valid work period. Pottratz Acosta said that although validity periods have differed in the past, those issued during the Biden era and until HR-1 were valid for five years.
Work permit applications – both initial and renewals – that were pending on or filed on or after December 5 last year will be valid for only 18 months.
3. Cancellation of auto-renewals for work permits:
Before last October, if asylum seekers applied for their renewals before it expired, their EADs auto-renewed while their application was pending, ensuring no lapses in employment due to lack of legal documentation. USCIS ended that automatic extension policy last October. This means that even if an applicant files a timely renewal, they no longer get an automatic extension while the application is pending.
Pottratz Acosta and Moreno said they have also noticed significant delays in processing renewals in the past year and a half.
This was compounded by the pause on all asylum and immigration processing for applicants from 39 countries that went into effect last November shortly after authorities reported that an Afghan national had shot two National Guard members in Washington.
On June 5, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled down the Trump administration’s ban on immigration and asylum processing for applicants from 39 countries, including work permit renewals.
“Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” the judge wrote in his 135 page-opinion.
4. Fees for new asylum applications and annual fees to keep a case active:
Along with the fees for filing for an initial EAD, asylum seekers are also required to pay a $100 filing fee for their asylum case starting last July. HR-1 also mandated a new annual asylum fee of $100 that applicants must pay to keep cases that have been pending for over a year active. If the $100 fee is not paid within 30 days of notice, the cases would be cancelled, without refund of the application fees.
“It used to be that when you apply for asylum, the application is free, and the idea is that oftentimes people who are coming to the U.S. to seek asylum, they’re fleeing for their lives with not pretty much the clothes on their back,” Pottratz Acosta said. “It’s a humanitarian application, so there shouldn’t be a filing fee, because that can be a barrier to households or to individuals who are applying for asylum.”
While litigation had temporarily blocked USCIS from collecting the $100 annual fee, the injunction was lifted in February this year, allowing USCIS to collect the fees.
Both Pottratz Acosta and Roy said people have been receiving notices erratically, meaning not everyone is being notified of the deadline to pay their annual fees. They advise applicants to pay the fee proactively to avoid having their cases cancelled.
5. A proposed rule may stop processing of new work permit applications:
In February, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule that could delay new work authorization applications filed by asylum seekers for as long as 173 years. It also proposes new eligibility criteria for work permits for asylum seekers, and makes some renewals of work authorizations more difficult.
The proposal allowed a comment period from the public, which had more than 7,000 submissions. The rule, proposed under the Administrative Procedures Act, doesn’t yet have immediate effect on current work authorization permits, renewals and applications already filed.
A “slam dunk” 10 years ago is now an uncertain case
Apart from imposing additional fees, restrictions, and shorter validity periods for work permits, HR-1 also stripped asylum applicants of federal health benefits like Medicaid and Medicare. Asylum seekers with active EADs can access MinnesotaCare, but that access, too, goes away in the absence of a work permit.
Asylum seekers are also generally not eligible to seek any cash assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits before they are granted asylum, which makes it even more important for them to seek employment.
Pottratz Acosta said that winning asylum cases has become harder owing to a large number of precedential decisions issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals and U.S. attorney general in the last year. “A case that was pretty much a slam dunk 10 years ago, now they probably wouldn’t be granted asylum,” she said.
Legal experts fear that increased financial burden and longer wait times make people vulnerable to exploitation and labor law violations in the black market or the underground economy without the guardrails of a formal regulatory body. This would further impact the state and federal economy if asylum seekers are restricted from the legal workforce.
“On top of the economic benefit, it provides purpose and connection and community building that benefits everybody,” Roy said.
Where to find information and help
For assistance and information on work permit authorization changes, reach out to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, which provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota.
For continued information and resources on work permits, check out the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and workpermits.us.
