The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published an updated guide on public charge inadmissibility this Tuesday, which expands the criteria the agency will use to assess whether a foreign national applying for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident may become a burden on public resources.
The new guidelines, incorporated into the USCIS Policy Manual, are the result of a final rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on July 16 and published in the Federal Register four days later.
The regulation comes into effect on September 18, 2026 and repeals the public charge inadmissibility criteria established in 2022 during the Biden administration.
What changes with the new rule?
The most significant change lies in which public benefits can be considered when evaluating an application for permanent residency.
Under the Biden administration's regulations of 2022, officials could only consider cash public assistance and government-paid long-term institutionalization.
With the new rule, starting September 18, USCIS will be able to evaluate a broader range of assistance.
These include "cash assistance for income maintenance, housing assistance, food vouchers, financial aid for university studies, or any other similar benefit," according to the official text from the agency.
For the benefits received before that date, USCIS will maintain the previous criteria.
Those received from September 18 onwards will be subject to extended scrutiny.
The agency emphasizes that decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis and that having received a public benefit does not automatically imply the rejection of the application.
The five factors that will influence the decision
The Congress has established five factors that USCIS officials must consider: age of the applicant, health status, family situation, assets and financial resources, and educational level and skills.
In certain cases, officials may also consider Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, submitted by a person who agrees to financially back the applicant.
The updated guidelines, according to USCIS, "align with Congress's intent that foreigners in the United States be self-sufficient and not rely on taxpayer-funded government benefits."
Who is subject to this and who is exempt?
In general terms, all foreigners applying for adjustment of status to permanent resident are subject to this evaluation, unless they belong to a category explicitly exempt.
Among those who are subject to this are spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens; relatives of permanent residents; fiancés of citizens; prioritized workers; professionals with advanced degrees; and investors, among others.
The following are exempt: asylees and refugees, victims of trafficking (T visa), victims of criminal activity (U visa), self-petitioners under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and special immigrant juveniles.
A relevant fact for the Cuban community: applicants protected under the Cuban Adjustment Act are explicitly exempt from this ground of inadmissibility, just like Cubans and Haitians who adjust their status under section 202 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
The public charge bond
The new guide also details the bond mechanism.
If an officer concludes that the only reason for inadmissibility is the likelihood of becoming a public charge, they may formally invite the applicant to submit a financial guarantee using Form I-945.
Immigration lawyer Mauricio García explained the process:
"If the officer determines that you are likely to be a public charge, they must consider giving you a notice of intent to deny, offering a public charge bond."
Applicants cannot submit this bond on their own initiative; USCIS must first issue a Notice of Intent to Deny. The amount is determined by considering how much government assistance the individual may receive over the next five years.
New form and key dates
At the same time, USCIS announced that on September 18 it will publish a new edition of the Form I-485 adapted to the new rule.
The agency was clear: “We will only accept the edition of 09/18/26 of this form if it is postmarked or submitted electronically on or after September 18, 2026.”
Previous versions will be rejected without a grace period.
The DHS estimates that around 588,000 applications for adjustment of status will be subject to this review annually.
The agency itself acknowledges a potential "deterrent effect": around 950,000 people in immigrant households may forgo public benefits to which they are legally entitled for fear of jeopardizing their immigration processes.
This measure is part of the immigration hardening of the Trump administration, which also promoted a pilot program for public charge bonds for visa applicants abroad, with reported amounts ranging from 100,000 to 250,000 dollars.
The public charge rule was announced in July as part of that same policy.
The director of USCIS, Joseph B. Edlow, justified the change by stating that "the federal government reaffirms the need for self-sufficiency, protects public resources, and ends the policies that encouraged dependency at the expense of American taxpayers."
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