Immigration

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding the factors that officers consider in certain benefit requests where an exercise of discretion is required, including factors relating to aliens’ past requests for parole and any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations, as well as the use of discretion in adjudication […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is resuming personal investigations of immigrants applying for naturalization. These investigations, also known as “neighborhood investigations,” will scrutinize an applicant’s place of residence and employment for the five years before they filed their application. According to USCIS, the purpose is to verify an alien’s eligibility for naturalization, which includes […]

In an Aug. 15 policy memo, USCIS issued new guidance on how it will evaluate “good moral character” (GMC) for naturalization applicants. USCIS is moving away from a checklist-style review toward a more rigorous, holistic, and comprehensive assessment. The goal is to ensure that applicants granted U.S. citizenship are not only free from disqualifying acts […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating its policy guidance to clarify how we evaluate eligibility for the second preference employment-based (EB-2) classification for immigrant petitions filed with a request for a national interest waiver (NIW). In general, an employer files an EB-2 petition using Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, after obtaining a labor certification from the Department of […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration and Services is issuing guidance regarding the legal and physical custody requirements for purposes of acquisition of U.S. citizenship under section 320 and naturalization under section 322 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). We are also expanding guidance on derivation of citizenship before the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, under […]

We are updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 8, Part B, Chapter 3, to reflect that immigration medical examination documentation for certain Afghan nationals who arrived in the United States during Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) is valid indefinitely. This means that Afghan nationals who arrived in the United States during OAW and meet certain […]

We have updated guidance on the International Entrepreneur Rule in our Policy Manual to clarify the required triennial increase in investment, revenue, and other thresholds, and to clarify how we arrange biometrics appointments for certain applicants. The updated guidance reflects the International Entrepreneur Program: Fiscal Year 2025 Automatic Increase of Investment and Revenue Amount Requirements Final Rule published in […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is issuing policy guidance in our Policy Manual to further clarify the types of evidence that we may evaluate to determine eligibility for extraordinary ability (E11) EB-1 immigrant visa classifications. This policy guidance: Confirms that we consider a person’s receipt of team awards under the criterion for lesser nationally or […]