An Employment Authorization Document (EAD) is a temporary work permit; a Green Card is proof of lawful permanent resident status. That’s the core of the EAD vs. Green Card distinction: one lets you work in the United States for a fixed period tied to some other immigration situation, and the other lets you live and work here permanently. Holding an EAD does not put you on a path to a Green Card, and losing one does not necessarily affect the other.
Status Versus Permit
A Green Card, officially the Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551), is an immigration status. It gives you the right to live in the United States, work for almost any employer, travel internationally and return, and remain protected by federal, state, and local laws.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. After We Grant Your Green Card Some government positions requiring security clearance are reserved for U.S. citizens, and permanent residents cannot vote in federal, state, or local elections; voting can lead to criminal penalties and deportation. Permanent residents must file U.S. tax returns reporting worldwide income, obey all laws, and, if male and between 18 and 25, register with the Selective Service.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Rights and Responsibilities of a Green Card Holder (Permanent Resident)
An EAD (Form I-766) is not a status. It is a work permit that USCIS issues on top of something else: a pending asylum case, a pending adjustment of status application, Temporary Protected Status, F-1 Optional Practical Training, or certain dependent visa categories.3Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Employment Authorization Document (EAD) If the underlying situation ends, so does the work authorization. An asylum denial, for example, takes the EAD with it.
What You Can Do at Work
A Green Card lets you work for any employer, switch jobs, freelance, or start a business without notifying USCIS. Most EADs also allow open-market employment with any employer, including those issued to adjustment of status applicants and asylum applicants, but the authorization remains temporary and category-dependent.
Both documents appear on List A of Form I-9, so either one alone establishes both identity and employment authorization when you’re hired.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. List A Documents That Establish Identity and Employment Authorization The practical split shows up at renewal. When an EAD expires, your employer must re-verify your work authorization. When a Green Card expires, employers cannot demand re-verification, because the card expires but the underlying permanent status does not.
Traveling Outside the U.S.
Travel is where the two documents diverge most sharply, and where mistakes are hardest to fix.
Green Card Holders
Permanent residents can leave and return, but time away matters. An absence of more than six months but less than a year raises a presumption that you have broken the continuous residence needed for naturalization; you can rebut it with evidence of continued ties to the U.S.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part D Chapter 3 – Continuous Residence An absence of one year or more automatically breaks continuous residence and can be treated as abandonment of permanent resident status. If you know you’ll be gone longer than a year, apply for a reentry permit (Form I-131) before leaving; it is valid for up to two years. After two years abroad, you would need a returning resident visa from a U.S. embassy.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. International Travel as a Permanent Resident
EAD Holders With a Pending Green Card
If you hold an EAD because you filed Form I-485 and you leave the country without an advance parole document, USCIS will likely deny the adjustment application. Even if a Customs and Border Protection officer lets you back in, the pending case can be treated as abandoned.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travel Documents Advance parole doesn’t replace your passport and doesn’t guarantee re-entry, but traveling without it while an I-485 is pending is a risk worth avoiding.
How Long Each Lasts
Standard Green Cards are valid for ten years and are renewed with Form I-90. Green Cards obtained through a marriage less than two years old at the time of approval are conditional and valid for only two years.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Removing Conditions on Permanent Residence Based on Marriage To keep your status, you must file Form I-751 in the 90-day window before that card expires. USCIS does not grant extensions for late filings here. Note the distinction that trips people up: the card has an expiration date, but permanent resident status itself does not. An expired card creates practical headaches with employers and travel, but it does not mean you’ve lost your status.
EADs are shorter-lived and, since late 2025, riskier at renewal. Before October 30, 2025, filing a timely renewal automatically extended existing work authorization for up to 540 days while USCIS decided the case. That automatic extension is gone. An interim final rule published that day eliminated automatic extensions for renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. DHS Ends Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Extensions already granted before that date remain in effect, extensions provided by a separate statute survive, and TPS-related employment documentation extended through a Federal Register notice is unaffected.10Federal Register. Removal of the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents For everyone else, if USCIS doesn’t approve the renewal before the current card expires, work authorization lapses. Filing early is now essential.
Taxes Are Different Too
Green Card holders are U.S. tax residents from their first day as a permanent resident, regardless of how many days they actually spend in the country. The IRS calls this the green card test, and it requires reporting worldwide income until you formally give up permanent resident status.11Internal Revenue Service. U.S. Tax Residency – Green Card Test Filing as a nonresident while still holding a Green Card is one of the factors USCIS weighs when deciding whether you have abandoned your permanent residence.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part D Chapter 3 – Continuous Residence
EAD holders are not automatically tax residents. The IRS applies the substantial presence test, which counts physical days in the U.S. across a three-year window. You’re a tax resident if you were present for at least 31 days in the current year and a weighted total of 183 days across the current year and the two preceding years.12Internal Revenue Service. Substantial Presence Test Certain visa categories, including F, J, M, and Q, can exclude days from the count, which matters for students working under Optional Practical Training.
Using an EAD While Waiting for a Green Card
For many applicants, the EAD is a bridge to the Green Card, not a substitute. If you file Form I-485 to adjust status, you can file Form I-765 at the same time to get work authorization while USCIS processes the Green Card application.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485 The EAD keeps you employed during the wait, which can run more than a year.
An EAD approval says nothing about the Green Card. USCIS reviews the underlying immigrant visa petition, confirms a visa number is available, and then decides the I-485 separately. Each form gets its own decision notice, and an EAD approval alongside a Green Card denial is a real possibility.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485
If you file Form I-765 and Form I-131 together with the I-485, USCIS may issue a single “combo card” that works as both an EAD and an advance parole document. It looks like a standard EAD but carries the text “Serves as I-512 Advance Parole.”14U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Issue Employment Authorization and Advance Parole Card for Adjustment of Status Applicants – Questions and Answers Both forms must be filed together to get it. Employers can accept it as a List A document on Form I-9.
What Each One Costs to File
As of January 1, 2026, the initial EAD filing fee (Form I-765) is $560 for asylum applicants, TPS holders, and parole-based filers. Renewal EADs for asylum applicants cost $275.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces FY 2026 Inflation Increase for Certain Immigration-Related Fees
Filing Form I-485 to adjust to permanent resident status costs $1,440 for applicants 14 and older and $950 for applicants under 14. Under older fee rules, the I-485 fee bundled in the EAD and advance parole applications. That changed on April 1, 2024. Forms I-765 and I-131 now each require their own filing fee even when filed together with an I-485.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule A single adult filing all three together should plan for the combined total.
Processing times run in opposite directions from the price. EAD applications in fiscal year 2025 had median processing times ranging from about two weeks for DACA-based filings to roughly three months for general employment categories. Form I-485 adjustment applications typically take well over a year, depending on visa category and USCIS workload.17U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Historic Processing Times The EAD gets you working quickly; the Green Card is what you’re actually waiting for.