Track when your documents expire

An expired work permit does not just stop you working. It stops your driving licence being renewed, which stops you proving your identity, which stops the bank account and the job. In the United States your documents are chained together, and a single lapse pulls several things down with it.

Build the list

Once, in an afternoon

First reminder

Six months before each expiry

Cost

Nothing to track; renewals have their own fees

Address changes

USCIS must be told within 10 days

Which date matters on each document

Passport. Many countries require six months of validity beyond your travel dates, and renewal is done through your own country's consulate, not the U.S. government. Consular backlogs can run for months.

Visa in the passport. This is only an entry permit. An expired visa is irrelevant while you remain in the United States — it matters when you next re-enter. Do not confuse it with your period of authorised stay.

I-94. This is the date your authorised stay actually ends, and it is the one that governs whether you are in status. It is often different from the visa date. Check it rather than assuming: check your I-94.

Employment authorisation document. Work stops on this date unless an automatic extension applies to your category.

Permanent resident card. The card expires; your status does not. You still need a valid card to prove the status, to travel and to complete Form I-9.

Driving licence or state ID. Usually issued to expire alongside your immigration document, so it renews only after the immigration one does.

When each can be filed

Every form has a window opening some months before expiry, and filing earlier than the window gets the application rejected outright. Confirm the current window on the official page for your form — these change.

Some categories get an automatic extension of work authorisation when a renewal is filed on time, evidenced by the receipt notice together with the expired card. If that applies to you, keep the receipt notice with the card, because an employer completing I-9 reverification will need to see both.

Build the list once

Write down, for every document in the household including children's: what it is, the number, the expiry date, which agency renews it, and how far ahead filing is allowed. Set a calendar reminder six months before each date and a second one at three months.

Do this for everyone at the same time. Families miss a child's document far more often than an adult's, and a child ageing out of a category has consequences that cannot be undone by filing late.

Also on the list: things that are not expiry dates

Report every change of address to USCIS within 10 days, separately from telling the post office — see reporting a change of address. Note the date you become eligible to apply for naturalisation, since it does not arrive as a notification. And file a tax return every year you are required to, because filing history is asked about in later applications.

If a date has already passed, the position is usually still recoverable but the clock matters. Speak to an accredited representative or immigration attorney quickly rather than filing something and hoping — emergency numbers and legal help lists where to find free advice.