The Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) could soon send notifications to thousands of immigrants who have open processes for a Green Card and other visas, so that they repeat their biometic processes: fingerprints, photograph and signature.
This review order indicates that all immigrants with open processes, except those who are about to receive naturalization, must repeat security reviews, according to a report first published by CBS Recordsdata.
“USCIS confirms that they are actually forcing everyone except those preparing for the naturalization ceremonyto undergo a new fingerprinting and a thorough review,” Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney at the Kuck Baxter firm, with inappropriate in Georgia, said in a message on X. “There is no explanation except that it is an intentional delay.”
The report adds that USCIS case review officers are determining who will have to pass new security checks and is suspending some cases while the changes are implemented.
USCIS last week distributed guidance instructing its officials to resubmit pending applications for various immigration benefits, such as asylum, Green Card, which includes new security checks.
The objective is to expand security checks, to review background information, in coordination with FBI databases, something that was already done, but with specific cases.
The decision of USCIS follows executive order from President Donald Trump February, to modify the legal processes for permanent stay in the US.
“These offenders include foreign nationals with criminal records who have entered or remained in the United States in violation of U.S. immigration laws or who attempt to violate them,” Trump’s order says.
People who applied for a Green Card through marriage or marital sponsorship could be among the most impacted, according to USCIS internal guidance.
The cases that will be reviewed again are those that were presented before April 27, that is, thousands pending a decision, although it is not clear if this will be all the cases.
Due to these changes, people with open cases before USCIS could face delays in responding to their requests for immigration benefits.
This adjustment by the Trump administration to legal processes is part of more than 500 changes made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its different agencies, including USCIS, to legal processes, according to a follow-up carried out by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).
“The administration has withdrawn temporary protection from more than 1.5 million people with humanitarian permission, has almost completely paralyzed refugee resettlement and has severely restricted access to asylum,” the MPI report indicates. It has also created obstacles, thereby slowing down the granting of correct permanent residence, temporary visas and US citizenship.”
Immigrants with open processes are recommended to request advice from a certified attorney, not public notaries, to determine how to handle their cases.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has a tool by state and in Spanish, to connect with certified immigration attorneys: https://ailalawyer.com.
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