Policy news
Last updated 2026-09-24 · General information, not legal advice
This section covers policy changes that move how long you wait: a new USCIS form edition, a changed filing address, a case-inquiry line that shifts, a court taking a different view of a category of delay. Enforcement at the border, removals and rules that have only been rumoured stay out, because they do not change how long you wait. Every item links to the USCIS page, the Federal Register notice or the court record, so you can check it yourself.
Deadlines landing on a weekend: what changes on 23 October
Day-count deadlines still slide on paper. Birthday deadlines and online filings do not.
Policy newsFees rising on 16 October: the full list
Asylum, TPS and parole filings go up $3 to $30. Short-pay and it comes back with no filing date.
Policy newsForm editions in flux: I-485, I-765 and I-539
File the wrong edition and it comes back — with no receipt date and no credit for the wait.
Policy newsNeighborhood investigations: the wait before the interview
The investigation is generally done before the interview. The 120-day clock still starts there.
Why these particular changes are worth watching
A mandamus case rests on two numbers: your receipt date, and what a reasonable adjudication time looks like for your kind of filing. A new form edition, a changed filing address, a case-inquiry line that shifts, a court taking a different view of a category — these read like procedural housekeeping, and every one of them moves one of those two numbers.
Usually nothing announces it. A USCIS form page changes a line without a press release, and by the time a rejection notice reaches you a month has gone.
How to use this section
When something here touches your case, do two things. Recalculate where you stand against the processing-time tables, then read the seven signs a case is worth filing again and see whether your answer moved. You may come out in the same place, or you may find you are already past the point where filing is an option.
For a faster answer, the 60-second check works it out from your receipt date.