Received a USCIS notice? Get legal guidance before time runs out.. 
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finalized a new public charge rule that takes effect on September 18, 2026. The rule significantly broadens an immigration officer’s discretion to deny green cards or admission to the U.S. if the applicant is deemed likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance.
What is the public charge rule?
The 2026 Rule Changes
The new rule, which rescinds the Biden-era 2022 regulation, establishes a broader, more subjective, case-by-case standard for public charge inadmissibility.
- Expanded Discretion: Immigration officers are given wider authority to evaluate an applicant’s likelihood of relying on government support. Officers can consider multiple factors—including health conditions, age, financial status, education, and skills—to determine if an individual will require public assistance.
- Benefits Under Consideration: Historically, officers heavily weighed primarily cash assistance (such as TANF or SSI). The expanded policy gives officers greater flexibility to factor in the use of public programs, which may include Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamps), housing assistance (Section 8), and government-funded healthcare (Medicaid, though specific exceptions apply for emergency services, children, and pregnant women).
- Application Dates: The new criteria apply to any application for admission or adjustment of status (Form I-485) postmarked or submitted electronically on or after September 18, 2026. Applications filed before this date are evaluated under the previous 2022 framework.
Public Charge only applies to certain immigration applications. It only applies in some applications to get a green card (lawful permanent residence) or to immigrate to the United States.
Who is exempt from this new public charge rule?
What will change with public charge rule?
USCIS’s explanation for the recission states that it is removing the limitations on which public benefits may be considered in a public charge inadmissibility determination and is moving away from a bright-line test of primary dependence on a cash benefit.
The rescission will allow officers to consider the use of public benefits, including non-cash benefits that are means-tested.
USCIS states that public charge determinations will be based on an evaluation of the totality of the circumstances that includes the mandatory statutory factors in INA 212(a)(4)(B) (age, health, family status, assets, resources, and financial status and education and skills), the receipt of means-tested benefits and “any other individualized case-specific factors relevant to a [noncitizen’s] case” as well as, “any empirical data relevant to a [noncitizen’s] self-sufficiency.”
The rule states that any public charge bond posted on or after September 18, 2026 will be breached if the bonded person receives any means-tested benefit prior to death, permanent departure, or naturalization, “or is otherwise noncompliant with any conditions of the public charge bond.”
USCIS is expected to issue new guidance explaining how they will assess public charge after our current rule is rescinded. We expect them to consider many public benefits and health programs as negative factors, in addition to other factors like size of family and age.
Consular processing warning: Those who will be leaving the United States to apply for their green cards abroad, at a U.S. consulate or embassy, should be aware that the Department of State has already issued new guidance that will likely expand the number of individuals who are denied a visa for public charge. If you will be leaving the United States to consular process, contact our legal team before leaving the country.
The pause (referred to by some as a “travel ban”) does not involve an individualized assessment, but rather a blanket ban on individuals from these countries based on the government’s view that people from these countries are at “high risk” of becoming a public charge.
Applicants for a green card who are consular processing abroad and who are from one of the affected countries may still be interviewed at the consulate but will not be issued a visa while the ban remains in effect.
This visa ban does no apply to those who are applying for green cards at USCIS within the United States, it only applies to those who are applying for a green card and will attend their green card interview at a U.S. consulate or embassy abroad.
List of countries affected by this visa ban:
A – B: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma
C – G: Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea
H – L: Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya
M – R: Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda
S – Z: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Stay tuned.
We will host a webinar this Friday July 24, 2026. Register for free. Select Public charge as the topic.
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