USCIS Implements Decision Abolishing Final Public Charge Rule
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped the application of the Final Public Charge Rule
All applications and petitions pending on March 9, 2021. We have published new versions of the affected forms. You must submit the 03/10/21 edition of these forms on any future applications.
USCIS released the new versions, with an edit date of 3/10/21, of the following forms:
• I-864, I-864A, I-864EZ, I-864W
• I-539, I-539A
• I-129CW, I-129CWR
• I-129
• I-485, I-485A, I-485J
• I-912
As of April 19, 2021, only the 03/10/21 edition will be accepted. Until then, you can use the older editions that are still available online.
undertone
On November 2, 2020, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois struck down the Public Charge Final Rule of Inadmissibility nationwide. The government appealed this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which stayed the order to vacate the ruling. On March 9, 2021, the government dismissed the Seventh Circuit's appeal, and the order from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to vacate the Public Charge Final Rule took effect.
Pursuant to the decision voiding the Final Public Charge Rule, USCIS immediately stopped applying the Final Public Charge Rule to all pending applications and petitions that would have been subject to said rule.
Actual status
USCIS applies the 1999 Interim Field Guidance in adjudicating any application for adjustment of status that was pending or received on or after March 9, 2021. The 1999 guidance was in effect before the Final Rule of Public Charge. In addition, USCIS will no longer apply the separate but related “public benefits status” to applications and petitions for extension of nonimmigrant stay and change of nonimmigrant status.