US tightens immigration work permits in latest move to expand crackdown

The US administration on Thursday announced it will shorten the validity period of work permits issued to refugees— the latest step in its widened immigration crackdown.

The revised policy also affects immigrants with pending applications for asylum or permanent residency, commonly known as green cards. Those processes typically take years to complete due to a massive backlog of unresolved cases.

Under the new rules, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will issue work permits lasting a maximum of 18 months, replacing the current five-year validity period.

In announcing the changes, USCIS cited last week’s attack on two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., arguing that shorter work-permit terms will allow the agency to vet and screen immigrants more frequently when they apply for renewals.

The suspect in the attack, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the US in September 2021 under the Biden administration. His asylum application was approved in April 2025, several months after President Trump began his second term.

“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,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement.

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

The new policy applies to all work-permit applications filed on or after Friday, Dec. 5, as well as those that remain pending on that date.

In the aftermath of the D.C. shooting — which killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition — the Trump administration has sharply escalated its immigration enforcement measures, restricting pathways for several categories of immigrants to enter or remain in the US legally.

The administration has frozen all asylum requests overseen by USCIS, paused visa and immigration applications submitted by Afghan nationals, and halted all legal immigration cases — including naturalization ceremonies — for nationals of the 19 countries included in President Trump’s “travel ban.”

US media also reporting that the administration is considering expanding that travel ban to a total of 30 nations in response to the D.C. attack.