Articles Posted in Green Card Interview

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Are you applying for an immigrant visa and want to know when your priority date will become current? Then you won’t want to miss our analysis of the February 2026 Visa Bulletin.

In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick explains what you can expect to see in terms of the movement of the family-sponsored and employment-based visa categories in the new year.

USCIS Adjustment of Status

For adjustment of status filings to permanent residence in the month of February, USCIS will be using the Dates for Filing Chart for the employment-based and family-sponsored categories.

Highlights of the February 2026 Visa Bulletin

At a Glance

What can we expect to see in the month of February?

Employment-Based Categories

Final Action Advancements

EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers

  • Except India and China, all countries will advance by 5.7 weeks to June 1, 2023

Dates for Filing Advancements

EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers

  • Except India and China, all other countries will advance by 3 months to October 1, 2023

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I-751 denials for conditional residents are surging in 2026, and many conditional green card holders are being caught off guard. What used to be a routine filing is now under intense scrutiny, with even minor errors triggering denials. As USCIS tightens standards, understanding the risks—and how to avoid them—has never been more critical.

A conditional permanent resident is someone who received a two-year green card through a recent marriage and must file Form I-751 during the 90 days before it expires to prove the marriage is real and remove those conditions. Failure to timely file an I-751 application can lead a person to lose their status.

In this video, we break down exactly how to avoid becoming part of the rising denial statistics and set your application up for approval.

If you are Divorced, Expect a Tougher Review

In just recent months, the I-751 approval rate has plunged from roughly 85% to just under 60%.

A major driver of these denials is USCIS’s heightened scrutiny of divorced applicants. I-751 waivers are filed by applicants who are no longer married to the U.S. citizen spouse through which they originally obtained conditional residence.

Applicants filing I-751 waivers face tougher scrutiny, with officers increasingly questioning the legitimacy of marriages that ended in divorce.

What many applicants don’t realize is that you should only file an I-751 waiver after your divorce is final, because without a final divorce decree, USCIS will likely deny the case.

If you don’t have your final divorce decree within the 90-day filing window, you should work with an attorney to fully document your pending dissolution and explain the situation to USCIS.

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In the wake of a deadly shooting at Brown University, the Trump administration has suspended the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa program — better known as the Green Card Lottery — after learning the suspected shooter entered the country using the program.

The decision, announced by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, pauses the annual green card lottery which offered up to 50,000 visas to applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.

What does this mean for people who planned to apply for the Green Card Lottery this year?

Electronic registrations for the fiscal year 2027 Green Card lottery are suspended until further notice.

During the pause, the government will enhance security vetting of applicants including conducting national security checks against terrorism databases, assessing public safety risks, and verifying each applicant’s identity.

Why was the Green Card lottery created?

The Green Card lottery was established by Congress in 1990 and officially began in 1995. Its purpose was to diversify the immigrant population by providing a legal pathway to permanent residency for individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S.

Each year, the program made up to 50,000 immigrant visas available through a randomized selection process, aiming to promote broader geographic representation and reinforce America’s long-standing identity as a nation shaped by immigrants from around the world.

For many, the program represented a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pursue the American dream. Last year alone, more than 20 million people entered the lottery, highlighting the intense demand for these visas.

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Overstaying a U.S. visa can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t always mean your options are gone. In fact, there are legal pathways that may allow certain individuals to remain in the United States even after a visa has expired.

In this post, we’ll break down three lawful options, explain who they may apply to, and clarify common misconceptions—so you can better understand your situation and make informed decisions.

Legal Options After a U.S. Visa Expiration

Option #1 Marriage to a U.S. Citizen

Marriage to a U.S. citizen is one of the most common legal options for individuals who have overstayed a visa. Under U.S. immigration law, spouses of U.S. citizens are considered “immediate relatives,” which means they may be eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence (a green card) from within the United States, even if they later overstayed their visa.

This process typically involves filing several immigration forms, submitting proof that the marriage is bona fide (such as shared finances or living arrangements), completing a medical exam, and attending an in-person interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

While a visa overstay is often forgiven, recently there has been an increase in immigration enforcement actions where spouses of U.S. citizens have been detained due to visa overstays, during their marriage-based green card interviews.

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Are you applying for an immigrant visa and want to know when your priority date will become current? Then you won’t want to miss our analysis of the January 2026 Visa Bulletin.

In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick explains what you can expect to see in terms of the movement of the family-sponsored and employment-based visa categories in the new year.

USCIS Adjustment of Status

For adjustment of status filings to permanent residence in the month of January, USCIS will be using the Dates for Filing Chart for the employment-based and family-sponsored categories.

Highlights of the January 2026 Visa Bulletin

At a Glance

What can we expect to see in the month of January?

Employment-Based Categories

Final Action Advancements

EB-1 Aliens of extraordinary ability, Outstanding Professors and Researchers, and Certain Multinational Managers or Executives

  • EB-1 India will advance by 10 months to February 1, 2023
  • EB-1 China will advance by 10 days to February 1, 2023

EB-2 Members of the Professions and Aliens of Exceptional Ability

  • EB-2 India will advance by 2 months to July 15, 2013
  • EB-2 China will advance by 3 months to September 1, 2021
  • All other countries will advance by 2 months to April 1, 2024

EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers

  • EB-3 India will advance by 1.8 months to November 15, 2013
  • EB-3 China will advance by 1 month to May 1, 2021
  • All other countries will advance by 1 week to April 22, 2023

EB-3 Other Workers

  • EB-3 India will advance by 1.8 months to November 15, 2013
  • EB-3 China will advance by 1 year to December 8, 2018
  • All other countries will advance by 1 month to September 1, 2021

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Major changes are coming to the marriage-based green card process in 2026, including stricter vetting, heightened enforcement, expanded evidence requirements, and increased detention of applicants flagged for further review at interviews.

To find out more, please keep on watching.

What to Expect: Shift Toward Heightened Enforcement

In 2025, internal policy shifts at USCIS stopped the issuance of Requests for Evidence, required medical exams to be filed with adjustment applications in a single package, and, most notably, created an unprecedented rise in denials and detentions at green card interviews.

Detentions at Green Card Interviews

In recent months, things took a turn for the worst. USCIS officers have been increasingly working alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify and flag green card applicants they believe are potentially ineligible for benefits. Those flagged for additional review have faced immediate detention at their green card interviews.

Although the law allows visa overstays to be forgiven for those married to U.S. citizens, USCIS officers have been reporting visa overstays to ICE during green card interviews, resulting in their immediate detention. This has occurred in recent weeks in San Diego to a Navy spouse, a breastfeeding mother, and even an elderly man, signaling that enforcement is being taken to an unprecedented level.

Under Trump, internal ICE policies have included numerical targets for deportations, effectively creating quotas for enforcement officers. These targets set specific numbers of removals to be achieved within given timeframes, which places added pressure on USCIS officers to flag these individuals for removal.

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Are you applying for an immigrant visa and want to know when your priority date will become current? Then you won’t want to miss our analysis of the December 2025 Visa Bulletin.

In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick explains what you can expect to see in terms of the movement of the family-sponsored and employment-based visa categories in the month of December.

USCIS Adjustment of Status

For adjustment of status filings to permanent residence in the month of December, USCIS will be using the Dates for Filing Chart for the employment-based and family-sponsored categories.

Highlights of the December 2025 Visa Bulletin

At a Glance

What can we expect to see in the month of December?

Employment-Based Categories

Final Action Advancements

EB-1 Aliens of extraordinary ability, Outstanding Professors and Researchers, and Certain Multinational Managers or Executives

  • India will advance by one month to March 15, 2022
  • China will advance by one month to January 22, 2023
  • All other countries remain current

EB-2 Members of the Professions and Aliens of Exceptional Ability

  • India will advance by six weeks to May 15, 2013
  • China will advance by two months to June 1, 2021
  • All other countries will advance by 2 months to February 1, 2024

EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers

  • India will advance by one month to September 22, 2013
  • China will advance by one month to April 1, 2021
  • All other countries will advance by two weeks to April 15, 2023

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Recent changes to the green card application process have added new hurdles that could make interview approvals more difficult. In this blog, we’ll break down what these changes are and how they could affect your chances of success.

What’s changed?

  • USCIS officers now have expanded authority
  • Immigration officers have been granted law enforcement powers as federal agents
  • Increased ability to investigate immigration cases for fraud, misrepresentation, and other violations
  • Authority to refer cases for criminal prosecution
  • Power to arrest and detain applicants during green card interviews for violations

USCIS Shifts from Administrative to Law Enforcement Agency

For decades, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has primarily served as an administrative agency. Its core function has been to process immigration benefits such as green cards, work permits, naturalization, and other legal status applications. USCIS operated separately from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is tasked with enforcing immigration laws, including detaining and removing individuals who are in violation. This separation reflected a clear distinction between those applying for lawful immigration benefits and those facing enforcement actions.

However, in recent months, USCIS policies have started to shift in a direction that aligns more closely with immigration enforcement. Officers within the agency are being granted expanded authority, including certain law enforcement powers. For example, USCIS officers now have increased discretion to investigate cases for fraud, misrepresentation, or other immigration violations — and in some cases, they may refer cases for prosecution or even detain applicants during in-person interviews for immigration violations.

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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has ramped up its enforcement efforts against individuals who have falsely claimed U.S. citizenship.

In a new policy memorandum issued on August 20, 2025, USCIS clarified that making a false claim to U.S. citizenship is a serious immigration violation that results in a permanent lifetime bar to adjustment of status—and, in most cases, there is no available waiver to overcome this ground of inadmissibility.

The policy memo explains that an immigration officer may find someone inadmissible for a false claim to U.S. citizenship, if the person made the claim with the subjective intent to gain a benefit or purpose under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) or any other federal or state law.

This requires an officer to consider direct or circumstantial evidence to determine whether the individual had the subjective intent to gain such a benefit or purpose based on the following factors: age, level of education, background, mental capacity, level of understanding, appreciation of the difference between truth and falsity, and other relevant circumstances.

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In a significant shift in immigration policy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) now has the authority to deny green card applications outright—without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID).

In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick explains how this new change empowers USCIS officers to make immediate decisions when an application lacks sufficient initial evidence, potentially leaving applicants with fewer opportunities to correct mistakes or provide missing documentation.

This makes the application process more unforgiving and raises the stakes for submitting a thorough and complete green card application from the start. Here’s what you need to know about how this policy could impact your green card journey, and more importantly how to protect yourself.

What’s changed?

Previously, when a green card application was submitted with missing or insufficient information, USCIS would typically issue a Request for Evidence (RFE). This notice outlined the specific issues or missing documents and gave the applicant a chance to respond and provide the necessary information to support their case by the specified deadline.

The RFE process served as a safeguard, allowing applicants to correct honest mistakes or oversights before a final decision was made on their application.

Now, that safeguard is no longer guaranteed. Under new USCIS policies, officers can deny green card applications outright if they determine the initial submission lacks sufficient evidence, without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID).

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