We are revising policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to comply with a recent court order on immigrant investors and investment of loan proceeds.

Please see the Policy Alert for more information.

USCIS has announced that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applicants who are eligible nationals of Burma, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela or Yemen, or individuals without nationality who last habitually resided in one of those countries, can now file Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, online, if they are applying for TPS for the first time.

Read our news release for more information.

We are updating the USCIS Policy Manual to eliminate the need for individuals who have applied for a change of status (COS) to F-1 student to apply to change or extend their nonimmigrant status while their initial F-1 COS application is pending.

Read our web alert for more information.

On July 16, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas held that the DACA policy “is illegal.” The Court granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claims; vacated the June 15, 2012 DACA memorandum issued by former Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano; remanded the memorandum to DHS  for further consideration; and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the government’s continued administration of DACA and the reimplementation of DACA without compliance with the APA. The Court, however, temporarily stayed its order vacating the DACA memorandum and its injunction with regard to individuals who obtained DACA on or before July 16, 2021, including those with renewal requests.

Consistent with this order, DHS will continue to accept the filing of both initial and renewal DACA requests, as well as accompanying requests for employment authorization. However, pursuant to the July 16, 2021 order from the Southern District of Texas, DHS is prohibited from granting initial DACA requests and accompanying requests for employment authorization. Also consistent with that order, DHS will continue to grant or deny renewal DACA requests, according to existing policy.

On June 22, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in Behring Regional Center LLC v. Wolf, 20-cv-09263-JSC, vacated the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Final Rule. We will apply the EB-5 regulations that were in effect before Nov. 21, 2019, and accept Form I-526 petitions filed on the April 15, 2019, version, which is the only form that DHS updated as part of the vacated rule.

DHS, along with the Department of Justice, is reviewing the court’s ruling and is considering all judicial and administrative options for preserving important changes made by the vacated regulation.    

For more information, see the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program page on our website.

On July 2, the White House released the Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization. This strategy outlines the federal government’s approach to promoting integration, inclusion, and citizenship to all who are eligible.  

Visit uscis.gov/promotingnaturalization for more information and for more information on our naturalization policies issued since January 2021, see our fact sheet.

We are now accepting applications for two funding opportunities under the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program. These opportunities will provide up to $10 million in grants for immigrant-serving organizations that provide citizenship instruction and civic integration services in communities across the country. Applications are due July 16, 2021.

For more information, please read our press release or visit uscis.gov/grants for more information.

The 2019 Public Charge Final Rule is no longer in effect, and DHS will partner with federal agencies to ensure impacted individuals are aware.

Read more here: Public Charge Letter to Interagency Partners.

• March 10: The Public Charge Final Rule

We are no longer applying the August 2019 Public Charge Final Rule. On March 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit lifted its stay of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ Nov. 2, 2020, decision which vacated the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule nationwide. USCIS immediately stopped applying the Public Charge Final Rule to all pending applications and petitions.

For more information, see our main public charge webpage, our public charge litigation page, and DHS’s news release.