The new Form I-765 and I-539 editions that were supposed to become mandatory on September 15 never took effect. USCIS is still accepting the 08/21/25 edition of Form I-765 and the 08/28/24 edition of Form I-539, and is expressly not accepting the 09/15/26 editions of either form.
This reverses guidance that circulated widely in the first half of September — including our own — that the older editions would be rejected without a grace period starting September 15. Anyone who held off filing an OPT application or a change-of-status request to wait for the new edition, or who prepared a filing on the 09/15/26 preview version, should switch back before sending it.
The reason is the litigation over Duration of Status. On September 14, 2026, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order postponing the effective date of the final rule “Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media.” The 09/15/26 form editions existed to implement that rule — they were built around fixed admission periods and the new extension-of-stay procedure. With the rule postponed one day before it was to take effect, the forms designed to carry it out had nothing to implement. USCIS states plainly: “Pursuant to the Sept. 14, 2026, order, USCIS continues to accept the 08/28/24 edition of Form I-539 and 08/21/25 edition of Form I-765 and is not accepting the 09/15/26 edition of Forms I-539 and I-765.”
Two practical points follow. First, this is a postponement, not a repeal. USCIS says that if the injunction is lifted, “DHS will take measures to implement the final rule,” so the 09/15/26 editions could be revived on short notice depending on how the case proceeds. Treat the current edition dates as the operative ones today, not as permanently settled.
Second — and this is where filings go wrong — the reprieve does not extend to Form I-485. That form’s 09/18/26 edition is tied to the Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility final rule, which is a separate rulemaking and is not affected by the Massachusetts order. The I-485 edition change is still on for September 18, still carries no grace period, and the 01/20/25 edition is accepted only if postmarked or submitted before that date. So as of this week, two different forms are moving in opposite directions: I-765 and I-539 stay on their older editions, while I-485 switches to a new one on Friday.
Before you file anything in the next several days, check the edition date printed in the lower-left corner of each form against the form’s own USCIS page. Filing on a rejected edition does not preserve a filing date — the package comes back, and for anyone near an OPT deadline or a status expiration, the lost weeks are the real cost.
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