The expiration of the Edakunni settlement on January 18, 2025 ended USCIS’s obligation to adjudicate H-4 and L-2 dependent applications alongside the principal worker’s H-1B or L-1 petition, and the H-4 EAD is where the pain shows up: spouses now wait longer, cannot use premium processing on their own applications, and face a real risk of a gap between the day their current work permit expires and the day the new one arrives.1EY Global Tax News. USCIS Sunsets Settlement Agreement Mandating Bundling the Adjudication of I-539 and I-765 Applications
The settlement, which took effect January 25, 2023, was designed as a two-year fix. It required USCIS to simultaneously adjudicate properly bundled Form I-539 status applications and Form I-765 employment authorization applications for H-4 and L-2 dependents once the principal’s Form I-129 had been decided, so long as everything was filed together.2CYA Visa Law. The End of Edakunni When the sunset date arrived, USCIS offered no guidance on whether it would keep bundling voluntarily.1EY Global Tax News. USCIS Sunsets Settlement Agreement Mandating Bundling the Adjudication of I-539 and I-765 Applications
How Long H-4 EAD Applications Now Take
As of March 2026, USCIS reports processing times of 5 to 9 months for initial H-4 EAD applications and 3 to 7 months for renewals.3Ahluwaila Law. H-4 EAD 2026: Eligibility, Changes, Filing Strategy Without the settlement mandate, dependent applications sit in the same queue as other non-covered categories, which had been running five to seven months even before Edakunni ended.4Ogletree Deakins. Settlement Requiring Near-Contemporaneous Adjudication of Properly Bundled Forms I-539 and I-765 to Sunset in January 2025
Premium processing is still unavailable for Form I-539 filed by H-4 or L-2 dependents. The Biden administration had announced plans to expand premium processing to these categories, but that expansion was never finalized.5USCIS. How Do I Request Premium Processing The only way to accelerate anything is to pay for premium processing on the principal’s H-1B petition and hope USCIS still adjudicates the bundled dependent applications with it.
Why the Risk of a Work Gap Got Worse
On October 30, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published an interim final rule eliminating the 540-day automatic extension of employment authorization documents for renewal applicants filing on or after that date. The rule amended 8 CFR 274a.13 and cited security vetting priorities and executive orders on immigration enforcement.6Federal Register. Removal of the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents Applicants who filed renewals before October 30, 2025 kept the 540-day extension, and some categories (Temporary Protected Status, STEM OPT) are exempt.7USCIS. Interim Final Rule Published Ending the Practice of Automatically Extending Certain EADs H-4 EADs are not on the exempt list.
The practical consequence: work authorization now ends on the date printed on the card. If a renewal filed after October 30, 2025 is still pending on that date, the spouse must stop working.3Ahluwaila Law. H-4 EAD 2026: Eligibility, Changes, Filing Strategy There is also a structural ceiling that makes early filing only partially protective: an H-4 EAD’s validity cannot extend beyond the holder’s underlying I-94 expiration date, so even a few extra months of adjudication time can force a gap.8Pryor Cashman. USCIS No Longer Required to Adjudicate Dependent and Principal Applications Together
The rule is being challenged. On January 8, 2026, a group of H-1B spouses filed Doe v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (8:26-cv-00060) in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeking nationwide relief and arguing that the interim final rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act.9Bloomberg Law. H-1B Spouses Sue US Over Ending Automatic Work Permit Extensions The case remains in its early stages, so plan around the current rule rather than the hoped-for outcome.
Does USCIS Still Bundle H-4 and L-2 Applications?
Sometimes. Some service centers continue to bundle concurrently filed applications, while others process them separately. Practice is inconsistent now that the settlement mandate is gone.3Ahluwaila Law. H-4 EAD 2026: Eligibility, Changes, Filing Strategy
The USCIS premium processing page, updated in March 2026, states that premium processing is not available for a Form I-539 filed for dependents of an I-129 beneficiary, but adds that if the I-539 for H-4 or L-2 status is properly packaged with the principal’s Form I-129, it will be adjudicated at the same time as that petition.5USCIS. How Do I Request Premium Processing In other words, some version of bundling survives as operational practice, but it is discretionary rather than mandatory, and you cannot rely on it.
How to Protect Your Work Authorization Now
Immigration practitioners recommend a layered approach.
- File the renewal as early as USCIS allows. H-4 EAD renewals can be filed up to 180 days before the current EAD expires, and given current processing times, filing at the earliest possible date matters.10USCIS. Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses
- Bundle the filings. File the I-129, I-539, and I-765 together, and pay for premium processing on the H-1B petition. That combination gives the best chance of concurrent adjudication despite the loss of the mandate.3Ahluwaila Law. H-4 EAD 2026: Eligibility, Changes, Filing Strategy
- Coordinate with the principal spouse’s employer. Transfers, extensions, and amendments on the H-1B side directly move the dependent’s timeline and must be synchronized.11Arvian Immigration. H-4 EAD in 2026: Eligibility, Renewal, Timing, Expiring Cards, and How to Avoid a Work Gap
- Do not travel internationally with a pending I-539 extension. Departing the country while the status extension is pending can be treated as abandonment of the application.12Alston & Bird. Anticipate Delays Processing Dependent Status Extensions
- Consider a backup status. Some spouses may independently qualify for an H-1B or O-1 visa, which can protect the ability to work if the H-4 EAD lapses.3Ahluwaila Law. H-4 EAD 2026: Eligibility, Changes, Filing Strategy
The H-4 EAD Program Itself Is Not Going Away
One piece of good news sits alongside the processing problems. The underlying legality of the H-4 EAD program was challenged for nearly a decade by Save Jobs USA, an organization of American technology workers. On August 2, 2024, the D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling upholding the program, and on October 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, ending the challenge and leaving the program intact.13RN Law Group. H-4 EAD: A Decade of History, Litigation, and Future Outlook After Supreme Court Decision14U.S. Supreme Court. Save Jobs USA v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 24-923 Eligibility is preserved. The remaining problem is purely logistical: getting the card issued before the old one expires.
Edakunni solved that logistical problem for two years by court-supervised agreement, not by regulation. With the settlement expired, automatic EAD extensions eliminated for post-October 30, 2025 filings, and premium processing still unavailable for I-539 dependents, H-4 and L-2 spouses are back to the structural vulnerability that produced the lawsuit in the first place, without the safety nets that existed while the settlement was in force.