EAD Category A05 for Asylees: Apply, Renew, and Replace

EAD Category A05 is the federal code USCIS uses on Employment Authorization Documents issued to people who have been granted asylum in the United States. It comes from 8 CFR 274a.12(a)(5), which authorizes asylees to work for as long as they hold that status.¹ The most important thing to know up front: your right to work begins the moment asylum is granted and does not expire, even if the card in your wallet does.²

Who Falls Under A05

A05 covers people with a final grant of asylum, whether that grant came from a USCIS Asylum Officer on an affirmative application or from an Immigration Judge in removal proceedings. It also covers derivative asylees, meaning a spouse or unmarried child under 21 who was included in the asylum case or added later.³

If your asylum application is still pending, you are not in A05. Pending applicants use category (c)(8), which has its own eligibility rules and restrictions.⁴ You move into A05 only once asylum is actually granted.

You Don’t Need the Card to Work

USCIS states this plainly: “Asylees do not need an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to work in the United States.”² Your authorization is incident to status, and it does not expire while you remain an asylee.⁵

For Form I-9, the EAD (Form I-766) is a List A document and satisfies both identity and work authorization on its own.⁶ But you can present other combinations instead: a List B identity document like a state driver’s license paired with a List C document like an unrestricted Social Security card or a Form I-94 stamped to show asylum was granted.⁵ An employer who insists on seeing the EAD specifically, after you’ve offered valid alternatives, is asking for more than the law requires.

The card carries a printed expiration date, but the regulation itself explains that the date reflects only that the document must be renewed, not that the bearer’s work authorization has ended.¹

Why Bother Getting the Card

If work authorization is automatic, the card is still worth having. It’s a government-issued photo ID that clears the I-9 on its own. It’s also familiar to employers, banks, and DMVs in a way that an approval letter or an I-94 printout sometimes isn’t. Carrying it reduces friction. That’s the whole case.

How to Apply

You apply on Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. File it online through a USCIS account or by mailing a paper form to the Lockbox facility for your state.⁷ In Part 2, enter eligibility category (a)(5).³

Include a copy of one of the following as proof of your asylum grant:³

Your USCIS asylum approval letter, if asylum was granted affirmatively.
The written order from an EOIR Immigration Judge, if your case went through court.
A Form I-94 stamped to show asylee status.
A Form I-797 approval notice, for derivative asylees approved through a Form I-730 petition filed in the United States.

You also need passport-style photographs, unmounted and unretouched. Edited or digitally enhanced photos will delay processing and may require a trip to an Application Support Center to verify your identity.⁷

The initial A05 EAD application has historically been fee-exempt, but fee schedules change. Confirm the current amount on the USCIS fee calculator before you file, because submitting the wrong fee is one of the most common reasons applications are rejected outright.⁸

What Happens After You File

USCIS sends a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, with a receipt number you can use to track your case online.⁹ You may be scheduled for a biometrics appointment at a local Application Support Center for fingerprints and a photograph.¹⁰ After approval, the card is typically produced within two weeks and mailed by USPS Priority Mail. Wait a full 30 days from the approval date before contacting USCIS about a card that hasn’t arrived.⁷

How Long the Card Is Valid

This changed at the end of 2025. Effective December 5, 2025, USCIS reduced the maximum validity of A05 EADs from five years to 18 months, and the same reduction applies to renewals.¹¹¹² If you rely on the EAD as everyday ID, plan on renewing much more frequently than you used to.

Renewing an A05 EAD

Renewal uses the same Form I-765 and the same category, (a)(5). File early. Before October 30, 2025, USCIS automatically extended a pending renewal applicant’s work authorization for up to 540 days. That automatic extension has been eliminated for renewals filed on or after that date.¹³

If your renewal is still pending when the card expires, the card itself stops working as a document. Your underlying work authorization as an asylee has not expired, though, and you can continue working by presenting other acceptable I-9 documents, such as a state ID with an unrestricted Social Security card.² The gap is an inconvenience, not a loss of rights, but not every employer knows this, so filing well ahead of expiration is the safer path.

Replacing a Lost or Damaged Card

To replace a lost, stolen, or damaged EAD, file a new Form I-765 with the applicable filing fee, unless you qualify for a fee waiver.¹⁴ There is no separate replacement form. While the new card is in production, alternative I-9 documents keep you working.

Moving from A05 to a Green Card

The card isn’t the end of the road. After one year of physical presence in the United States following your asylum grant, you become eligible to apply for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident by filing Form I-485.² Filing before the one-year mark is technically possible but tends to slow processing, since USCIS has to separately verify the physical presence requirement. Once you’re a permanent resident, EAD questions fall away entirely.

1
eCFR. 8 CFR 274a.12 – Classes of Aliens Authorized to Accept Employment
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Asylees
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-765 Instructions
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 7.3 Refugees and Asylees
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 13.1 List A Documents That Establish Identity and Employment Authorization
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Calculate Your Fees
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Receipt Number
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Preparing for Your Biometric Services Appointment
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Reduced Validity Periods for Newly Issued Employment Authorization Documents
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Alert – Updating Certain Employment Authorization Document Validity Periods
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Interim Final Rule Published Ending the Practice of Automatically Extending Certain EADs
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization Document