This week, USCIS issued a new memorandum regarding adjustment of status adjudications, and almost immediately social media filled with claims that adjustment of status is effectively over. That is not true. The memo attempts to frame adjustment of status as relief that should only be granted in “extraordinary circumstances.” The legal problem is that Congress never wrote the statute that way. Adjustment of status exists because Congress created it under INA § 245(a), codified at 8 U.S.C. §...

Something has changed at USCIS. Immigration filings have always required attention to detail. That is not new. Forms have to be signed correctly, filing fees have to match, and supporting evidence has always mattered. But what we are seeing right now is different from normal scrutiny. Recently, USCIS has started rejecting filings over issues that often have little to do with whether the person actually qualifies for the immigration benefit being requested. The agency has rolled out new...

Most people think immigration outcomes are binary. A case is either approved or denied. In reality, there is a third category that receives far less attention and causes far more frustration: cases that simply do not move. No decision. No clear explanation. Just ongoing review, repeated status checks, and months or years of uncertainty. These cases are not stuck by accident. They are often the result of something more deliberate. Immigration officers are not required to rush to a decision...