Updated July 26, 2026 Photographed by Salah Darwish A federal court has temporarily blocked USCIS from rejecting a pending asylum application, terminating asylum-based employment authorization, or initiating removal proceedings solely because an asylum applicant failed to pay the annual asylum fee. The July 21, 2026, order in Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS provides important protection for asylum applicants who missed a USCIS payment deadline. However, it does not eliminate...

Beginning September 18, 2026, the federal government will apply a substantially broader and less predictable public charge standard to certain people applying for permanent residence or admission to the United States. The new rule does not make the receipt of public benefits an automatic reason to deny a green card. It does, however, allow immigration officers to consider a wider range of public benefits and financial circumstances when deciding whether an applicant is “likely at any time to...

Beginning September 15, 2026, a new federal rule will change how unlawful presence is calculated for many people who entered the United States with F, J, or M visas. The most serious consequence is not simply that students and exchange visitors will have new expiration dates or additional applications to file. The rule may prevent people who are already out of status from using employment-based or family-based immigration options that remain available to them today. Many former students and...