Posts

Aug 31, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

USCIS Reverses Course on Voter Registration at Naturalization Ceremonies - Effective Immediately, Under Court Order

Policy Alert PA-2026-11, issued August 31, 2026, rescinds the 2025 restriction and lets nonpartisan organizations register new citizens to vote at naturalization ceremonies again.

USCIS Policy Updates Naturalization

Aug 31, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

USCIS Rolls Out New Form I-864 With No Grace Period — And It Now Authorizes Credit Checks on Sponsors

USCIS published a new 08/24/26 edition of Form I-864 effective Aug. 31, 2026 with no grace period — and the new version authorizes USCIS to pull sponsors' consumer credit reports.

USCIS Green Card I-864 Adjustment of Status

Aug 27, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

A Rule Erasing the 30-Day Warning Before Refugee Status Is Revoked Is Sitting at the White House - as an Interim Final Rule

RIN 1615-AD23 has been under OIRA review since August 10 and would take effect without public comment, targeting the only response window refugees get under 8 CFR 207.9.

USCIS Refugees Policy Updates

Aug 27, 2026 • Immigration News • 3 min read

OpenAI Pays $3.2 Million Over PERM Recruitment - Paper-Only Applications and Late-Night Radio Ads

The Justice Department's thirteenth Protecting U.S. Workers settlement finds OpenAI steered PERM job ads away from U.S. applicants, with $1.2M in penalties and a $2M back-pay fund.

PERM EB-2 EB-3 Green Card

Aug 27, 2026 • Policy Updates • 2 min read

The One Lever Citizenship Applicants Have Against the New Neighborhood Investigations: Character Reference Letters

USCIS says character reference letters from non-family U.S. citizens are weighed when it decides whether to waive a neighborhood investigation - and the policy already applies to pending N-400s.

USCIS Naturalization N-400 Citizenship

Aug 27, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

USCIS Can Now Deny Your Petition Without Ever Sending an RFE - and the Policy Already Covers Pending Cases

Policy Alert PA-2026-05 tells officers they may deny for missing initial evidence without first issuing an RFE or NOID, and strips the extra 14 days that international filers used to get.

USCIS NIW EB-1A RFE

Aug 27, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

USCIS Reinstates Neighborhood Investigations for Citizenship Applicants - Effective Immediately, Including Pending Cases

USCIS Policy Alert PA-2026-10, issued August 25, ends the blanket waiver of neighborhood investigations for naturalization applicants and authorizes officers to question neighbors, employers and co-workers.

USCIS Citizenship Naturalization N-400

Aug 26, 2026 • Immigration News • 3 min read

DHS Moves to Narrow H-1B Cap Exemptions - and Universities and Nonprofit Labs Are Directly in the Path

A DHS proposed rule sent to the White House on August 24 would revise which employers qualify as H-1B cap-exempt - the exemption that lets universities and nonprofit research organizations hire outside the lottery.

H-1B USCIS Policy Updates NIW

Aug 26, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

DHS Revives Its H-1B Third-Party Placement Crackdown - This Time as a Regulation, Not a Memo

A DHS proposed rule under White House review would increase oversight of H-1B third-party placements, six years after courts forced the agency to rescind its 2018 itinerary memo and vacated its 2020 rule.

H-1B USCIS Policy Updates

Aug 26, 2026 • Policy Updates • 3 min read

What the H-1B Reform Rule Filing Already Tells Us: Economically Significant, Nine Months Late, and Exempt From the Deregulation Order

The text of the new DHS H-1B reform rule is not public, but its OMB filing and Unified Agenda entry reveal its scale, its slipped timetable, and the earliest cap season it could realistically govern.

H-1B USCIS Policy Updates Processing Times