U.S. slashes work permit validity time for refugees, asylum seekers to 18 months

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday (December 4, 2025) cut to 18 months from five years the period of time work permits are valid for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants.

The move, the latest in the administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown, took place just two days after it halted immigration applications for citizens from 19 nations.

The move also came after two National Guard members were allegedly shot last week by an Afghan man who entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), cited the November 26 shooting in the US capital as a reason for the work permit move.

“Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies,” Mr. Edlow said in a statement.

“After the attack on National Guard service members in our nation’s capital by an alien who was admitted into this country by the previous administration, it’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct frequent vetting of aliens,” he said.

USCIS said the work permit move will apply to migrants admitted as refugees, migrants granted asylum and those whose deportation has been put on hold.

On Tuesday (December 2), the Trump administration halted immigration applications for citizens from 19 nations already subject to travel restrictions.

Green card and citizenship processing was halted for people from those countries, which include Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti, Venezuela, Sudan and Somalia.

Mr. Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants and, after the National Guard shooting, he said that he planned to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”