USCIS Resumes House Visits for Citizenship Applicants!

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As of August 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has resumed conducting personal investigations for certain naturalization applicants including home visits, neighborhood investigations, and visits at places of employment. These visits are part of the agency’s new efforts to verify the accuracy of information provided in citizenship applications and to prevent immigration fraud.

Highlights

  • Neighborhood Visit Policy Revived: USCIS has reinstated the neighborhood investigation policy after more than 30 years of limited or no enforcement.
  • Applies to Citizenship Applicants: This is a new development specifically affecting individuals applying for U.S. naturalization.
  • Focus on Verifying Eligibility: Neighborhood visits may be used to verify details such as residence, good moral character, and other naturalization requirements.
  • Supporting Documentation Encouraged: Applicants are advised to submit testimonial letters from neighbors, employers, or associates to potentially avoid in-person visits.

Policy Overview

Although neighborhood visits are not a new practice, they were generally suspended because USCIS relied on biometric checks and criminal history checks to determine an applicant’s good moral character and eligibility for naturalization. Their resurgence reflects a renewed emphasis on evaluating a person’s background to determine whether they possess “good moral character”—a requirement for citizenship. Officers may visit applicants’ residences to confirm details like physical presence, marital status (especially in spousal-based cases), and other eligibility requirements.

In practice, this is likely to occur if, after the USCIS citizenship interview, the officer remains unconvinced that the applicant demonstrates good moral character or meets other eligibility requirements.

According to the policy memorandum, USCIS will decide whether to conduct or waive neighborhood investigations on an individualized discretionary basis after reviewing relevant evidence contained in the application for naturalization.

To forgo conducting neighborhood investigations, USCIS may request additional information from the applicant seeking naturalization such as testimonial letters from neighbors, employers, co-workers, and business associates who know them and can provide substantiated information about them, including their good moral character.

If such evidence is not contained in the application for naturalization, USCIS may request that the applicant submit such evidence at a later time.

Providing such evidence along with the Application for Naturalization will help USCIS determine whether a waiver of a neighborhood investigation is appropriate in a particular case without a need to issue a Request for Evidence.

USCIS stresses that an applicant’s failure or refusal to provide such evidence can lead to a neighborhood investigation which may impact their ability to establish eligibility for naturalization.

For more information about this new policy, please click here.

Always consult an immigration attorney or accredited representative if you have concerns about your case.

Contact Us. If you would like to schedule a consultation, please text 619-483-4549 or call 619-819-9204.

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