You have a valid visa and an EAD at the same time - which one you work on and why it matters

A student on F-1 gets the news he has been waiting for. The Form I-765 he filed with his green card application came back approved, and his employer wants to move him onto the card.

Both documents in his hand are real. The F-1 is valid, the employment authorization document is valid, and nothing printed on either tells him that using the second can move him off the first.

That fork exists for anyone with an I-765 approved while on a visa. Which document you work on decides what you still hold if the green card case fails, and the answer changes with the status you are already in.

Talk to an immigration attorney about your own case

What is the difference between immigration status and work authorization?

Immigration status is the legal category you were admitted in, and it sets how long you can stay and which terms you have to keep. Work authorization is permission to be employed. An employment authorization document, issued on Form I-765, gives you work authorization and no status.

Some statuses carry work authorization with them. H-1B and L-1 workers, and E and L-2 dependent spouses, work on the strength of the status under 8 CFR 274a.12(a). Everyone in the (c) list has to apply for a card.

A pending green card application sits in neither column. USCIS says a pending adjustment application "does not confer lawful immigration status on an applicant." Form I-485 asks for permanent residence, and gives you no status to hold while it waits.

What does an employment authorization document give you, and what does it not give you?

An EAD lets you work, and that is all it does. It does not extend your stay, create or restore a status, or pause the terms of the status you already hold.

The front of the card carries a field marked Category. That category code names what USCIS issued the card for, which makes it the fastest way to tell which case you are in.

The (c)(9) adjustment applicant category covers someone "who has filed an application for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident." That card is tied to no employer and no job. A (c)(3)(B) OPT card rests on F-1 status and ends with it. Our Form I-765 guide covers the filing, and the adjustment of status packet checklist covers what goes in beside it.

Does using an EAD cancel F-1 status once Form I-765 is approved?

The approval on its own changes nothing, and what puts F-1 status at risk is the employment you begin on the card. F-1 runs for duration of status, defined at 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(i) as the time spent pursuing a full course of study or engaging in authorized practical training.

F-1 employment is limited to the categories USCIS lists for students: on-campus work, curricular practical training, optional practical training, severe economic hardship and recognized international organizations. A (c)(9) card is none of those, and a full-time job on it usually means the full course of study has stopped too.

USCIS puts the consequence plainly: "Employment authorization is automatically terminated whenever the student fails to maintain status." Everything that sat on top of the F-1 closes with it. No CPT for a later program, no STEM OPT extension, and no OPT to H-1B route through the cap-gap.

A school transfer goes too. USCIS requires a student who is maintaining status in order to transfer, and a student no longer pursuing a full course of study has to seek reinstatement first.

Nobody flags any of this at the time. The approval notice says nothing about F-1, the school official is never asked, and the employer's I-9 reverification records only the new document.

What goes into a Form I-765 filingWhich category to claim, what USCIS asks for, and how the card sits beside a pending green card case.

Read the Form I-765 guide

If you are on H-1B or L-1 with an I-485 pending, which one should you work on?

Both stay open to you, because H-1B and L-1 tolerate an intention to become a permanent resident. The statute at 8 U.S.C. 1184(h) says that being the beneficiary of a preference petition "shall not constitute evidence of an intention to abandon a foreign residence." That is what dual intent covers.

The regulation at 8 CFR 214.2(h)(16)(i) matches it. An approved labor certification or a filed preference petition is no basis for denying an H-1B petition, an extension or a change of status.

Keeping the H-1B or L-1 running preserves a status you can stand on. It keeps the 60-day grace period available if the job ends, keeps extensions past the sixth year on the table, and keeps AC21 portability as a way to change employers.

Working on the (c)(9) card keeps something different open. It lets you take any job, including one no employer would petition for, without waiting on a new approval.

Which one you work on is a decision about what you want available a year from now. It is worth making deliberately rather than by default.

If you are on H-4, L-2 or an E dependent status, does the same fork apply?

Not in the same way, because the work authorization these statuses carry is attached to the status rather than to a pending green card case. An H-4 EAD is issued under category (c)(26) to "an H-4 nonimmigrant spouse of an H-1B nonimmigrant," so the card depends on H-4 status continuing.

E-1, E-2, E-3 and L-2 dependent spouses have been employment authorized incident to status since November 12, 2021. An unexpired I-94 annotated E-1S, E-2S, E-3S or L-2S is the evidence, and no Form I-765 is needed. We cover spouse work authorization options, the H-1B spouse work permit and H-4 EAD processing time.

A dependent spouse who files an I-485 and receives a (c)(9) card lands in the same position as a principal.

What happens to your status if you travel while your I-485 is pending?

Leaving the country with an I-485 pending counts as abandoning the application, unless you hold advance parole or you fall inside the H and L exception. 8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii) treats a departure as "an abandonment of the application," then carves out anyone "previously granted advance parole" who is "inspected and paroled upon returning."

Parole and status are separate matters. USCIS is explicit that "parole, by definition, is not an admission," so returning on advance parole leaves you in parole rather than back in the nonimmigrant status you departed on.

The same rule gives H-1 and L-1 workers, and their H-4 and L-2 dependents, another route. They can travel and return without abandoning the I-485 if they keep valid status, hold the required visa stamp, and come back to resume the same employment. Advance parole and travel and travel while a petition is pending cover the mechanics.

What happens to your work authorization if the I-485 is denied?

The (c)(9) card exists because the I-485 was pending, so a denial removes the condition it was granted on. 8 CFR 274a.14 allows revocation "when it appears that any condition upon which it was granted has not been met or no longer exists."

Someone who kept an H-1B or L-1 running still has a status after the denial. That leaves the grace period and the option to refile or pursue an immigrant visa abroad. Someone whose F-1 already ended has nothing to return to, and unlawful presence begins to accrue. How long you can stay after an I-485 denial and consular processing vs adjustment of status cover what is left.

What does Form I-765 cost, and does an EAD still extend automatically?

Filing on a pending I-485 costs $260, and renewals filed on or after October 30, 2025 receive no automatic extension. Fees and processing times are current as of October 2026. USCIS updates these periodically, so check the linked official page for the latest figures.

The automatic EAD extension that used to cover timely renewals ended for applications filed on or after October 30, 2025, with narrow exceptions for Temporary Protected Status. A (c)(9) renewal filed now carries no bridge, so any gap between the old card expiring and the new one is a gap in work authorization.

USCIS publishes the current I-765 processing time on its case processing times tool, which we link rather than quote because the figure moves. The I-485 processing time sets how many renewals you need.

How do you tell whether you are working on your I-94 status or your EAD?

Four checks settle it, and all four use paper you already have.

1. Read your I-94 and its expiry date. The I-94 records the status you were admitted in and how long it runs. An expired I-94 with no extension on file means the underlying status is finished, whatever the card says.
2. Read the category code on the front of the EAD. (c)(9) means the card stands on a pending I-485. (c)(3)(B) or (c)(26) means it stands on your F-1 or H-4 status.
3. Check which document your employer reverified you on. Your Form I-9 records what the employer accepted, and that is what payroll runs on.
4. Check whether an extension was filed on the underlying status. An H-1B extension or a change of status filing keeps that status alive independently of the card.

If the green card application is deniedWhat happens to your stay, your work authorization and your options after a Form I-485 denial.

Read about an I-485 denial

When does this need an immigration attorney?

Four moments carry a decision that is hard to undo.

An F-1 holder with an approved (c)(9) EAD, before any work starts on the card. Any travel with an I-485 pending, whether on advance parole or on an H-1B or L-1 visa stamp. A denial, where the order of your next steps matters. And an underlying status that expires while the I-485 is pending, which leaves the card as the only document you hold.

Which document you are standing on, and what it keeps open

The EAD vs underlying status question has one answer per person and no general rule. An F-1 holder and an H-1B holder with identical cards stand in different places, because one of them has a status that survives a denial.

Using an EAD while in valid status is a choice about what you keep. Read your I-94, your category code and your I-9 before payroll changes anything.

Tukki handles U.S. work visas and green cards for professionals and their families, including adjustment of status filings and the Form I-765 that goes with them. Our attorneys answer legal questions on your own case.

If you have an EAD approved and a valid status at the same time, book an intro call before your employer changes anything.

Book an intro call