US Issues Tougher Deadline Rules for Green Card Applicants From November 2026

• The US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a major policy shift affecting green card applicants and foreign workers
• USCIS reversed a 2023 rule that allowed birthday-based filing deadlines to extend to the next business day when they fell on weekends or holidays
• The updated rules apply to paper-based filings received on or after October 23, 2026, citing a 2025 US Supreme Court ruling

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a significant shift in how it calculates filing deadlines, a change that could catch thousands of green card applicants and foreign workers off guard if they are not aware of the new requirements.

The agency issued Policy Alert PA-2026-15 on 23 September 2026, clarifying that the regulatory definition of "day" will now apply only when deadlines are explicitly framed in terms of days by statute, regulation, or form instructions.

What the policy change means for applicants

Read also

Australia raises working holiday visa age limit for citizens of 4 countries

Under a policy introduced in 2023, USCIS had extended deadline extension rules to cover milestones tied to personal eligibility criteria, including age-based thresholds.

In practical terms, if an applicant needed to submit a benefit request before their 21st birthday and that birthday fell on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, USCIS would accept the filing as timely if it arrived by the close of the next working day.

That flexibility has now been removed. Going forward, the automatic extension to the next business day will only apply when the deadline itself is counted in days as explicitly defined by statute, regulation, or form instructions.

Deadlines tied to personal milestones such as a birthday will no longer benefit from that extension. An applicant whose 21st birthday falls on a weekend must ensure their paperwork is received before that date, regardless of whether it is a non-working day.

USCIS points to Supreme Court ruling

USCIS cited the 2025 US Supreme Court ruling in Monsalvo Velasquez v. Bondi as part of the basis for reversing its earlier approach.

Read also

US green card lottery delayed: How to apply when registration opens

The court observed that since at least the 1950s, the term "day" in US law has carried a specialised legal meaning that excludes Sundays and legal holidays only when a deadline would otherwise fall on one of those days, a standard the 2023 policy had extended beyond its intended scope.

The agency acknowledged that applicants who had been preparing their submissions in line with the 2023 policy may not have anticipated this reversal.

The updated guidance takes effect for paper-based filings received on or after 23 October 2026 and supersedes all prior related policy in Volume 1 of the USCIS Policy Manual.

Applicants with upcoming age-based or milestone-based filing deadlines are advised to review the revised policy carefully and submit their documentation ahead of the relevant date rather than relying on any assumed extension.

US announces a 3-year rule for foreigners

Earlier, YEN.com.gh wrote about the new USCIS photo policy affecting foreigners seeking Green Cards and U.S. citizenship, including Ghanaians and other Africans.

The rule requires applicants to use photos taken within three years and prohibits self-submitted images.

The change ends pandemic-era flexibility that allowed some photos to be reused for up to 10 years. Applicants filing Forms I-90, I-485, N-400 or N-600 will need a fresh photo from USCIS or another authorised source.

Source: YEN.com.gh