Updated September 23, 2025 to include new N-400 testing informationIn August 2025 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made several policy announcements related to good moral character and “anti-American” activities that may impact applicants seeking...
Effective December 12, 2022, USCIS updated its Policy Manual to automatically extend the validity of green cards for Lawful Permanent Residents who have applied for naturalization. Form N-400 receipt notices will include an automatic two-year extension of the green...
09/29/2020 update:On September 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the motion for a preliminary injunction (“PI”) filed by eight nonprofit organizations in the ongoing Fee Rule litigation. The PI has a nationwide effect...
On November 14, 2019, DHS published a new rule containing numerous adjustments to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) filing fee schedule. These proposed adjustments are in addition to other recently finalized fee rules increasing the Premium Processing Service fee by $30 and adding a $10 fee for each electronic H-1B cap registration. In this new rule, DHS is planning on an upward adjustment of USCIS fees “by a weighted average of 21 percent” among other changes.
AILA has published a searchable table of fee adjustments, located here, which shows upwards adjustments to filing fees for many commonly used forms such as N-400 for naturalization, I-485 for Adjustment of Status, I-140 for immigrant visa petitions, and I-129 for nonimmigrant visa petitions.
In a stated attempt to reduce processing times on applications, USCIS announced on June 17, 2019, that it would be adjusting workloads for its field offices and that, as a result, some applicants may be scheduled for interviews outside of their geographic area. Generally, interviews for naturalization and permanent residency are scheduled based on the USCIS field office closest to an applicant’s residence. This change will particularly affect San Francisco Bay Area residents residing in the San Francisco Field Office jurisdiction, who may now be scheduled for interviews in Sacramento or San Jose.
