On November 27, 2025, USCIS announced that they are tightening immigration vetting by factoring in risks tied to applicants’ countries of origin, following a violent incident involving an Afghan national. USCIS will now consider country-specific factors when deciding any applications or petitions from individuals that are from 19 high-risk countries. These 19 countries are the same as in the Trump Administration’s June 2025 travel ban. The effect of this new policy is that all immigration processing (including green cards and citizenship) for individuals from those 19 countries has been halted, pending a further review of those cases with the new guidelines. No timeframes or estimates have been given as to how long this additional review will take.
This new policy does not remove the requirement under the law that USCIS adjudicate your immigration matter in a reasonable period of time. If your case has been pending far beyond normal processing times, there are options to force USCIS to issue a decision in your case. Contact us to see if your case qualifies for further action to get a decision issued.