Braxton Coyle, managing attorney at Revis Associates, explains that an Employment Authorization Document is the official card USCIS mails to authorize work in the U.S. It lists your name, A-number, and employment dates. A visa only lets you enter the country, not work, so you need an EAD for lawful employment.
Hi, my name is Braxton Coyle. I'm the managing attorney here at Revis Associates, and there's a few different topics that I wanted to talk about with you guys today. One of the first things that we were going to talk about is what it means to have an EAD. An EAD is an Employment Authorization Document. That means that you have permission to work in the United States. USCIS is going to send you one of these awesome envelopes, and inside that envelope you're going to have a card, and on that card it's going to have your name and your A number and show that you have valid permission to work from this date until this date inside the U.S. Sometimes that gets confused with what's called a visa. A visa is what you need to enter the United States lawfully. Unfortunately, just having a visa alone is not going to give you valid permission to work in the United States. So that's why we're going to need to request an employment authorization document. Additionally, you can also be what's called an LPR. An LPR is a legal permanent resident. That is somebody that has a green card in the United States. And the green card is what you need on the pathway to become a citizen. When you're a citizen of the United States, you get sworn in, you get to take the oath to the United States. Pledging your allegiance to this country and all of the laws and regulations that are required.
