United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that it has revised the Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”), or Form I-766, to incorporate the addition of a machine-readable zone on the back of the card. This update to the EAD is part of USCIS’s ongoing efforts to deter immigration fraud.

Starting May 11, USCIS began issuing the revised EAD cards. The machine-readable zone is compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization standards. USCIS also removed the two-dimensional bar code on the backside of the card and moved the informational box of text to just beneath the magnetic stripe on the card. The revised card retains all of its existing security features.

The front of the EAD card remains the same:

The back of the EAD card definitely looks different. The smaller image to the left is the old design and the larger image to the right is the new design: