An I-94 by itself does not allow you to work in the United States. It’s your arrival record, not a work permit. Whether you’re authorized to take a job depends on the class of admission code printed on that I-94 \u2014 some visa categories carry work authorization automatically, and others require you to apply for a separate Employment Authorization Document before you can accept any paid position.<\/p>\n
The distinction matters because employers, Social Security offices, and immigration officers all read the I-94 the same way: they look at the code, not the form.<\/p>\n
When Customs and Border Protection admits you to the U.S., it creates an I-94 record with your name, passport details, entry date, the date your authorized stay expires, and a short abbreviation called the class of admission. That abbreviation \u2014 H-1B, L-1, F-1, B-2, and so on \u2014 is what tells anyone reading the record whether you can work.<\/p>\n
For visa categories that include employment privileges, the I-94 doubles as proof of work authorization. Employers can accept it as a List C document when completing Form I-9, because the class of admission confirms you’re in a work-authorized status.1<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. List C Documents That Establish Employment Authorization<\/a><\/span> For categories without work privileges \u2014 a B-1\/B-2 tourist stamp or a plain F-1 student admission \u2014 the I-94 proves you entered legally and nothing more.<\/p>\n Several nonimmigrant classifications let you work without a separate EAD. Your I-94 showing the correct class of admission, combined with your underlying visa documentation, is enough.2<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization Document<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The H-1B covers professionals in fields that generally require at least a bachelor’s degree. Authorization is tied to the specific employer who filed the petition. You cannot freelance, moonlight, or take a second job without a separate petition for that additional employment. Initial approval can run up to three years, with a six-year cap on total time in H-1B status.3<\/a><\/sup>eCFR. 8 CFR 214.2 – Special Requirements for Admission, Extension, and Maintenance of Status<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The L-1 is for employees moving from a foreign office to a U.S. branch of the same multinational company. L-1A is for managers and executives (up to seven years), and L-1B is for workers with specialized knowledge of the company’s products or processes (up to five years).4<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge<\/a><\/span> You must have worked for the company abroad for at least one continuous year within the three years before your transfer.<\/p>\n The E-1 is available to nationals of countries with a qualifying commerce treaty with the U.S. You have to be engaged in substantial ongoing trade, with more than 50% of your total international trade volume flowing between the U.S. and your home country.5<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. E-1 Treaty Traders<\/a><\/span> Initial admission runs up to two years, and extensions are unlimited.<\/p>\n The O-1 is for individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement in sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. As with H-1B and L-1, authorization is tied to the petitioning employer or agent, and no separate EAD is needed.2<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization Document<\/a><\/span> There is no annual cap.<\/p>\n Under the USMCA, Canadian and Mexican citizens in certain professional occupations can work in TN status. Each admission lasts up to three years and can be renewed.6<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 402.17 USMCA Professionals – TN and TD<\/a><\/span> Canadians can apply for TN status directly at a U.S. port of entry and get their I-94 on the spot; Mexican citizens must obtain a TN visa at a consulate first.7<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Department of State. Visas for Canadian and Mexican USMCA Professional Workers<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n J-1 exchange visitors are authorized only for the work specified on Form DS-2019, issued by the program sponsor. The I-94 combined with an endorsed DS-2019 is acceptable I-9 documentation.8<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Exchange Visitors (J-1)<\/a><\/span> Employment authorization ends on the DS-2019 program end date, not the I-94 expiration, so watch which comes first.<\/p>\n Since January 30, 2022, CBP and USCIS have issued I-94 records with specific class codes \u2014 E-1S, E-2S, E-3S, and L-2S \u2014 for spouses of E and L workers. These spouses are employment authorized incident to status, meaning an unexpired I-94 with one of these codes is itself acceptable proof of work authorization on Form I-9.9<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization for Certain H-4, E, and L Nonimmigrant Dependent Spouses<\/a><\/span> If your I-94 shows the plain code without the “S,” get it corrected before trying to use it for hiring paperwork.<\/p>\n Some classifications appear on an I-94 but don’t come with the right to work. If yours is one of these, you need an approved EAD from USCIS in hand before starting any job.<\/p>\n F-1 status is for education, not employment. The F-1 code on your I-94 authorizes you to study, not to work. To take a job in your field of study, you generally need Optional Practical Training approval, which gives up to 12 months of employment either before or after finishing your degree, and requires an approved EAD before you begin.10<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Optional Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 Students<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n STEM graduates can add a 24-month extension on top of the initial 12 months, for up to 36 months total. The STEM extension requires the employer to be enrolled in E-Verify, and the extension application must be filed up to 90 days before the current OPT expires.11<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Optional Practical Training Extension for STEM Students (STEM OPT)<\/a><\/span> Curricular Practical Training, which is employment built into your academic program, does not always require an EAD but must be authorized by your school’s designated official.<\/p>\n H-4 dependents of H-1B workers do not have automatic work authorization the way L-2 or E spouses do. An H-4 spouse must file Form I-765 and receive an approved EAD before taking any job. USCIS typically issues H-4 EADs with a validity period matching the spouse’s I-94 expiration, capped at three years.9<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization for Certain H-4, E, and L Nonimmigrant Dependent Spouses<\/a><\/span> Families often assume H-4 works like L-2. It doesn’t.<\/p>\n TPS gives temporary legal status to nationals of countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions, but the status itself does not include work authorization. TPS holders must apply separately for an EAD, and both the TPS designation and the associated work permit have their own expiration dates and renewal requirements.<\/p>\n If your ability to work depends on an EAD, one recent change matters more than any other. DHS issued an interim final rule ending the automatic extension of EADs for renewal applicants. Anyone who filed an EAD renewal on or after October 30, 2025, does not receive an automatic extension of work authorization while the renewal is pending.12<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. DHS Ends Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization<\/a><\/span> Limited exceptions apply to certain TPS-related documents and extensions granted by other specific legal provisions.<\/p>\n USCIS recommends filing renewal applications up to 180 days before the current EAD expires. If your EAD lapses before the renewal is approved, you must stop working on the expiration date and stay stopped until the new card is issued.<\/p>\n Workers in employer-sponsored categories like H-1B, L-1, O-1, E-1, TN, P, and R get some breathing room. If your employer files a timely extension petition before your current I-94 expires, you can keep working for up to 240 days while USCIS processes the petition, or until USCIS decides the case, whichever comes first.13<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Extensions of Stay for Other Nonimmigrant Categories<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The word “timely” does heavy work here. If the employer files Form I-129 even one day after the I-94 expires, you’ve fallen out of status and the 240-day protection doesn’t apply. The rule also covers only continued employment with the same employer that filed the extension. It doesn’t let you start a new job elsewhere.<\/p>\n Most I-94 records are electronic. You can retrieve yours from the CBP I-94 website using your name, date of birth, passport number, and country of citizenship, entered exactly as they appear on the travel document you used to enter. If your passport lists multiple first or last names, enter them all. The CBP One mobile app can also pull your most recent I-94 using a Login.gov account or by scanning your passport’s machine-readable zone.14<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Customs and Border Protection. What to Do if Your I-94 is Not Found Online<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Errors are common enough that it’s worth checking before your first day at a new job. A wrong class of admission code, wrong biographical information, or wrong admission date can all stall employment verification. Corrections happen at a CBP Deferred Inspection Site, which can fix mistakes made at the time of entry, including wrong classification codes and incorrect periods of admission.15<\/a><\/sup>U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Deferred Inspection Sites<\/a><\/span> Any CBP office at an international airport can help regardless of where you first entered; non-airport locations usually require an appointment. Deferred Inspection cannot extend your stay or change your visa category \u2014 those are USCIS functions.<\/p>\n Working outside the terms of your status is one of the most damaging immigration violations, and the fallout reaches well beyond losing the paycheck.<\/p>\n The immediate risk is removal. Federal law makes any nonimmigrant who fails to maintain the conditions of their status deportable, and working without authorization qualifies.16<\/a><\/sup>Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The longer-term damage often hurts more. Time worked without authorization can count toward the unlawful presence bars that block reentry. More than 180 days but less than a year of unlawful presence, followed by a departure, triggers a three-year bar. A year or more triggers a ten-year bar.17<\/a><\/sup>Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens<\/a><\/span> For asylum applicants, unauthorized employment prevents the tolling of unlawful presence that would otherwise pause during a pending application.<\/p>\n Unauthorized work also weighs against you in every later immigration application \u2014 a new visa, adjustment of status, any benefit that requires a favorable exercise of discretion. And workers without authorization have almost no practical leverage against employers who exploit them, because reporting the employer usually means exposing themselves.<\/p>\n The bottom line: read the code on your I-94, match it against what it actually permits, and if the answer is anything short of clear authorization for the specific job you have in mind, don’t start working until you have the paperwork that says you can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn whether an I-94 allows you to work, from admission codes that authorize employment to categories needing a separate permit and pending-status rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration-visas-citizenship","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fedlaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Visa Codes That Authorize You to Work Directly<\/h2>\n
H-1B Specialty Occupations<\/h3>\n
L-1 Intracompany Transferees<\/h3>\n
E-1 Treaty Traders<\/h3>\n
O-1 Extraordinary Ability<\/h3>\n
TN for Canadian and Mexican Professionals<\/h3>\n
J-1 Exchange Visitors<\/h3>\n
Spouse Codes Ending in “S”<\/h3>\n
When Your I-94 Is Not Enough<\/h2>\n
F-1 Students<\/h3>\n
H-4 Spouses<\/h3>\n
Temporary Protected Status<\/h3>\n
The 2025 End of Automatic EAD Extensions<\/h2>\n
Working While a Status Extension Is Pending<\/h2>\n
Check Your I-94 Before an Employer Does<\/h2>\n
What Happens If You Work Without Authorization<\/h2>\n