While the cyclic prefix lengths of downlink OFDMA(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) systems are determined based on the maximum delay spreads encountered in cellular environments, the guard interval of uplink OFDMA systems should consider the timing offsets of uplink signals as well as the delay spread lengths. Especially in the cases of initial accesses, handovers, and considerable time elapsed without data transmissions between base and mobile stations in a large cell, uplink timing offsets can be large and a very long guard interval length may be required. In order to keep the small size of the cyclic prefix in uplink OFDMA systems, the systems require a method of extending the guard intervals for users with large timing offsets without affecting the cyclic prefix length of the system. This paper proposes a method extending the guard intervals of individual users in uplink OFDMA systems.