On September 18, 2025, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the implementation of a newly revised civics test for naturalization applicants, known as the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test. This updated version builds on the 2020 test—and will replace the existing 2008…
On Friday August 15th, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new policy memorandum (PM-602-0188) increasing the scrutiny of applications for U.S. citizenship, as part of the Trump administration’s latest efforts to tighten eligibility for naturalization. Specifically, USCIS has directed immigration officers to evaluate additional factors when assessing…
In a recent interview with the New York Times, published on July 25th the new director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Joseph Edlow told reporters that the agency is planning sweeping changes to the way the agency awards visas for H-1B high-skilled workers in specialty occupations. Under…
SSN Updates for New N-400 Applicants If you have been thinking of applying for U.S. Citizenship, you may be pleased to learn that starting April 1st applicants will have the option of requesting an original or replacement Social Security number (SSN) or card and have the chance to update their…
On January 30, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register making significant fee increases for various immigration applications and benefit requests. This fee increase will be the first major adjustment in the filing fees since 2016. The increase is meant to address…
According to recent data released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), applications for U.S. Citizenship surpassed pre-pandemic levels in fiscal year 2023, welcoming 878,500 new citizens from all over the world. To be eligible for naturalization, applicants must meet certain eligibility requirements set forth in the Immigration and Nationality…
Did you know? U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that online account holders can take advantage of a new tool called “myProgress.” “MyProgress” allows applicants to view personalized estimates of approximate wait times for major milestones and actions taken on their cases including final case decisions. These estimates…
In this blog post, we give you an update on the status of the proposed rule increasing the filing fees for certain applications and petitions filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). As you may remember, on January 4, 2023, USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking…
USCIS Updates Policy Manual Clarifying Physical Presence Requirement for Asylees and Refugees The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated its Policy Manual to clarify that BOTH asylees and refugees must have been physically present in the United States for one year at the time the Immigration Officer adjudicates…
Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and wish you a prosperous new year ahead. We kick off the new year with some important updates in the world of immigration. Today, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officially announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that…