U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new policy under which the validity period for work permits issued to immigrants granted asylum, refugee status, or other humanitarian programs is reduced from five years to 18 months. The agency said that it believes that forcing immigrants to renew their work permits more often will give the federal government more opportunities to re-vet them as part of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on legal immigration in response to the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. last week. The new policy is effective today, December 4, 2025, but currently only applies to new work permits.
