DOL Suspends Microsoft, Adobe, and Six IT Firms From PERM: What It Means for Form I-9
Read the article
The category code on an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) is the letter and number printed under "Category" on the front of the card, and it tells you the legal basis for the person's work authorization. C09 means the employee has a pending green card application. C08 means a pending asylum application. A12 and C19 are Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Each code points to a paragraph of 8 CFR 274a.12, where "A" codes cover people whose status itself authorizes work and "C" codes cover people who had to apply for it.
For Form I-9, any unexpired EAD is a List A document whatever the code says. The code still matters in three places: whether an expired card can be automatically extended, how long a TPS card runs, and, since May 29, 2026, whether a C08 card can end before the date printed on it.
These are the codes HR sees on most cards. The card shows them without parentheses, so (c)(9) in the regulation prints as C09 on the plastic.
| Code | Who has it | What to watch on Form I-9 |
|---|---|---|
| A03 | Refugee | Reverify when the EAD expires, unless they used other documents |
| A05 | Asylee (asylum granted) | Same as A03 |
| A10 | Granted withholding of removal | Reverify when the EAD expires |
| A12 | Granted TPS | One-year maximum under H.R. 1; country-specific extensions |
| A17 / A18 | E and L-2 dependent spouses | Tied to the spouse's status and the I-94 end date |
| C03A / C03B / C03C | F-1 students: pre-completion training, post-completion OPT, STEM OPT extension | Reverify when the EAD expires |
| C08 | Pending asylum or withholding of removal application | Can terminate before the card date (see below) |
| C09 | Pending green card application (adjustment of status) | Often replaced by a green card before it expires |
| C10 | Pending cancellation of removal or suspension of deportation | Reverify when the EAD expires |
| C11 | Paroled into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons or public benefit | Parole programs change often; check the end date |
| C19 | TPS applicant with a pending application | One-year maximum under H.R. 1 |
| C26 | H-4 spouse of an H-1B worker | Tied to the spouse's status and the I-94 end date |
| C33 | Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) | Reverify when the EAD expires |
| C35 | Approved EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 beneficiary with compelling circumstances | Reverify when the EAD expires |
Regulation sources are 8 CFR 274a.12(a) and (c). The A17, A18, and C26 spouse codes come from M-274 Section 5.1, which also lists the codes that qualified for automatic extensions before October 30, 2025.
C09 is the code for someone who has filed Form I-485 to adjust status to permanent resident and is waiting on a decision. People call it the green card EAD, and it's the code you'll see on employees partway through an employment-based or family-based green card case. Some cards print it as C09P, and M-274 Section 5.1 tells employers to ignore the "P" when comparing the card to a receipt notice.
Nothing changes on the I-9 the day the employee's green card arrives. You reverify when the C09 card expires, and at that point the employee can show the new green card or any other List A or List C document. Once they've presented a green card, you don't reverify again.
What changed for C09 is renewal timing. A C09 renewal filed before October 30, 2025 could carry an automatic extension of up to 540 days when the employee shows the expired card with a matching Form I-797C receipt. A renewal filed on or after that date gets no automatic extension under the October 30, 2025 interim final rule, so the employee needs the new card, or other List A or List C documents, by the old card's expiration date. Our EAD auto-extension guide has the date math.
C08 covers people who filed a complete application for asylum or withholding of removal and became eligible to work while it's pending. It's not a green card EAD, though search results mix the two up. The code matters more in 2026 than it did a year ago.
Since May 29, 2026, a C08 EAD can end before the expiration date printed on the card. The H.R. 1 fee rule rewrote 8 CFR 208.7(b) so that C08 employment authorization terminates:
The same rule added an annual asylum fee. An applicant who doesn't pay within 30 days of the fee notice has the asylum application rejected under 8 CFR 208.3(c)(6), and a rejected application ends the C08 authorization under the rules above.
None of this generates a notice to the employer. The card in your file still shows a future date. Reverifying early just because a card says C08 invites a discrimination claim, and so does asking the employee about their asylum case. What you can do is reverify by the date on the card and treat real information seriously when it reaches you, such as the employee telling you their case was denied. Our article on the H.R. 1 fee rule's quiet changes for employers covers how that knowledge question plays out.
A separate proposed rule from February 23, 2026 would pause new C08 applications whenever affirmative asylum processing averages more than 180 days and stretch the waiting period to 365 days. As of October 12, 2026 it's still a proposal. Its text says people who already hold a C08 card when it takes effect would keep working until the printed date, unless the card is terminated or revoked under the rules already in place.
Ending someone's employment over a case you heard about secondhand is how a C08 question turns into a discrimination charge. Book a free compliance call and our team will walk through what you know, what you can ask for, and what to document before you change anything.
A12 means TPS has been granted, and C19 means the TPS application is pending but the person showed enough to be authorized to work in the meantime. H.R. 1 capped both at one year or the end of the country's TPS designation, whichever comes first, under 8 CFR 244.5(d) and 244.12(a). Country designations have been ending and getting reinstated by courts all year, so the date on a TPS card is only half the answer.
For a TPS card extended by a Federal Register notice, USCIS says to enter "EAD" as the document title, record the issuing authority and document number, and use the extension date from the notice as the expiration date, per the I-9 Central TPS page. TPS is also the exception to the code-matching rule for automatic extensions, so an A12 card with a C19 receipt notice, or the reverse, still works. Our TPS employer guide tracks every country's current dates, and the Haiti TPS court-stay instructions show how a court order changes what you record. For the basics of the program itself, see what TPS is and who qualifies.
Refugees and asylees are authorized to work because of their status, and 8 CFR 274a.12(a)(5) says an asylee's EAD expiration date only means the card has to be renewed. Form I-9 still runs on the documents. When an A03 or A05 employee presented an EAD, you reverify when that card expires, per M-274 Section 7.3. When they presented an unrestricted Social Security card with a List B document instead, you don't reverify at all.
C26 is the H-4 spouse of an H-1B worker, A17 is an E spouse, and A18 is an L-2 spouse. Their work authorization follows the principal's status, so the I-94 end date can cut it short. Under M-274 Section 5.1, spouses in these codes who relied on a pre-October 30, 2025 automatic extension had to show an unexpired I-94 along with the receipt notice, and the extension couldn't run past the I-94 end date. When the principal changes jobs or leaves, our guide to the 60-day grace period covers what happens to the family's status.
An unexpired EAD is acceptable List A documentation whether it says C08, C33, or A05. Section 2 has no field for the category, so you record the document title, USCIS as the issuing authority, the card number, and the expiration date like any other EAD.
Asking a C08 or C11 employee for a second document "to be safe" can be document abuse under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(6), the anti-discrimination provision. Read the code so you know which rules apply to the card, and then treat the employee like every other EAD holder. For the numbers on the front of the card, our guides to the USCIS A-Number and the EAD card show which one goes where.
Green cards have a Category field too, and it's a different code system. On a green card it shows the immigrant class the person was admitted under, such as IR1 for the spouse of a U.S. citizen. That code has no effect on Form I-9, and you don't reverify an employee who presented a green card.
C09 means the cardholder has a pending application to adjust status to permanent resident (Form I-485), under 8 CFR 274a.12(c)(9). It's often called the green card EAD.
C08 means the cardholder has a pending application for asylum or withholding of removal, under 8 CFR 274a.12(c)(8). Since May 29, 2026, that authorization ends early if the asylum application is denied or rejected, including for an unpaid annual asylum fee.
No, the green card EAD is C09. C08 is based on a pending asylum case, which is a different path with different termination rules.
For Form I-9 it's a C09 card, since M-274 Section 5.1 tells employers to disregard the "P" when comparing the card's code with the code on a receipt notice.
They're the two TPS codes: A12 means TPS was granted, and C19 means the TPS application is pending with interim work authorization. Under H.R. 1, both run for one year at most.
You can read the code off the card you're examining, since it decides which extension rules apply. Don't ask about the immigration case behind it, and don't ask for extra documents because of it.
No, Section 2 has no category field. You compare the card's code with the I-797C receipt when you confirm an automatic extension, but you don't record it.
Our compliance team reads EADs all day, including the codes that don't show up in any table. Reach us here: