The Department of Homeland Security’s new public charge rule takes effect Thursday, September 18, 2026. Two federal lawsuits were filed against it on September 14 in the Southern District of New York, and after the Duration of Status rule was halted by a court one day before its own September 15 effective date, many applicants have assumed public charge would follow the same script. The dockets say otherwise.
As of this writing, no motion for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction appears on either docket in the public record. A lawsuit, by itself, does not suspend a rule’s effective date. Without emergency relief, the rule becomes operative on schedule.
Here is where the two cases actually stand. State of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:26-cv-07978), brought by a coalition of states, was filed September 14 under the Administrative Procedure Act and has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams. The parallel municipal case, City of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:26-cv-07982) — joined by San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, King County, Washington, and Santa Clara County, California — hit a procedural snag: its original September 14 filing was rejected as a deficient pleading over a signature error and had to be refiled on September 15. That case remained unassigned as of this writing. Both name USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow and DHS as defendants and seek declaratory and injunctive relief.
What the rule does is the part that matters for filings going out this week. It rescinds the 2022 public charge framework and lets officers weigh a far wider range of means-tested public benefits — including Medicaid, SNAP food assistance, and housing aid — used for any length of time, when deciding whether a green card applicant is likely to become a public charge. DHS’s own analysis projected that roughly 950,000 people would drop benefits out of fear before the rule denies a single green card.
The filing mechanics are unforgiving, and they are tied to the same date. Applications pending, filed, or postmarked on or before September 17, 2026 are adjudicated under the current 2022 rule. Beginning September 18, USCIS also moves to a new 09/18/26 edition of Form I-485 with no grace period — the agency has posted a preview version, and older editions will be rejected on arrival rather than corrected. Until September 18, only the 01/20/25 and 09/04/26 editions are accepted. There is no window in which both the old and new editions work.
One caution worth stating plainly: this situation can change quickly, and a court could still act on short notice — that is precisely what happened with Duration of Status. Applicants should also remember that the earlier September 15 experience cut the other way for forms, when an injunction left USCIS still accepting the old I-765 and I-539 editions after we and others had reported they would be rejected. Verify the edition and the governing rule on the USCIS form page the day you file, not the week before.
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Source: Primary source sweep - CourtListener SDNY dockets 1:26-cv-07978 and 1:26-cv-07982 + uscis.gov/i-485