USCIS Announces FY 2021 Accomplishments
16 December 2021
Release Date
12/16/2021
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is releasing preliminary fiscal year (FY) 2021 agency statistics and accomplishments. These preliminary statistics highlight important immigration trends and illustrate the work accomplished by USCIS in FY 2021. The agency will publish final, verified FY 2021 statistics in January 2022.
“I’m immensely proud of the USCIS workforce and for their achievements in a year of many challenges and rebuilding. From responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing processing delays to enacting numerous operational and policy changes in response to executive orders from the Biden-Harris Administration, FY 2021 marks a year of growth and renewed vision for our agency,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou.
“In the upcoming year, we will continue to serve the public with compassion and reflect America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibilities for all. As we administer our nation’s immigration system as an engine of American strength, we will adjudicate requests with fairness, efficiency and integrity.”
Addressing Challenges
- Fiscal Health: USCIS fiscal health has improved significantly during FY 2021 as a result of measures the agency implemented to reduce spending, as well as an increase in Immigration Examinations Fee Account revenue receipts, which have exceeded projections.
- Temporary Flexibilities in Response to COVID-19: The health and safety of our workforce and those we serve remained a top priority. USCIS continued temporary flexibilities related to COVID-19, including allowing more time for responses to certain USCIS requests and notices.
- Employment-Based Adjustments: USCIS faced the unprecedented challenge of processing over 237,000 employment-based Green Card applications—not only the agency’s usual 115,000, but an additional 122,000 immigrant visa numbers that the Department of State was unable to process in FY 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of FY 2021, USCIS approved over 172,000 employment-based adjustment of status applications, an increase of 50% above the typical baseline.
- Processing Delays: Across the agency, the volume of pending cases increased as well as the associated processing times. USCIS has made significant strides in addressing processing delays caused by COVID-19 and other factors while responding to new executive orders. USCIS made significant strides in addressing processing delays in the following ways: reusing biometrics for 2.5 million applicants since March 2020; reducing the number of pending biometrics appointments from 1.4 million in January 2021 to 155,000 as of the end of September; and fully eliminating the “front-log” of cases awaiting intake processing (which was more than 1 million receipts in January 2021 and was eliminated in July) by expanding staffing and overtime at our Lockbox facilities.
Response to Executive Orders
- Breaking Down Barriers: USCIS continues to identify efficiencies and remove barriers to benefits and services pursuant to executive orders (EO) 14012 and 13985 and received over 7,400 comments to its Request for Public Input, “Identifying Barriers Across U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Benefits and Services,” which closed on May 19, 2021. USCIS has already announced a number of updates responsive to comments received, including reverting to prior criteria for interviewing petitioners requesting derivative refugee and asylee status for family members, clarifying that it will consider E and L dependent spouses to be employment authorized incident to status and that H-4, E, and L dependent spouses may qualify for the automatic extension of their employment authorization, and providing deferred action and work authorization for petitioners living in the U.S. with pending, bona fide U nonimmigrant status petitions and who merit a favorable exercise of discretion. USCIS continues to review and consider comments received in response to the Request for Public Input, alongside other feedback received, such as in stakeholder engagements.
- Promoting Naturalization: During FY 2021, USCIS welcomed 855,000 new U.S. citizens, including derivative citizens. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the help of video-facilitated interviews and pandemic-safe interview procedures, USCIS continued to process naturalization cases at pre-pandemic levels during FY 2021 and completed approximately 895,000 naturalization applications, conducted more than 52,000 video-facilitated interviews, and hosted more than 40,000 naturalization ceremonies. USCIS continues to promote and improve access to naturalization pursuant to EO 14012 and the Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization [PDF, 3.77 MB] (PDF, 3.77 MB), which was released publicly on July 2, 2021. USCIS has taken a number of steps to reduce barriers to naturalization and promote citizenship, including phasing out the 2020 version of the Naturalization Civics Test and reverting back to the 2008 Test on March 1; decreasing the pending naturalization case queue by approximately 14% from January to September 2021; conducting video interviews of overseas military members and qualifying family members, as well as video naturalization ceremonies, with the assistance of the Department of Defense; reusing approximately 838,000 naturalization applicants’ biometrics since March 1; relaunching the Outstanding Americans by Choice initiative; and releasing $10 million to 40 citizenship grantees for FY 2022.
- Public Charge: DHS published the Public Charge Vacatur Final Rule in the Federal Register on March 15, 2021, which removed the regulatory provisions promulgated by the 2019 Public Charge Final Rule that the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacated on March 9. USCIS released a letter (PDF, 332.11 KB) to interagency partners on April 12, seeking their support in communicating to the public that the 2019 Public Charge Rule is no longer in effect. On Aug. 23, USCIS published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to seek broad public feedback on key considerations associated with the public charge ground of inadmissibility that will help with the development of a future regulatory proposal. As announced in the ANPRM, USCIS conducted a listening session for the general public on public charge on Sept. 14. Resources on public charge, including questions and answers, are available on our website. USCIS hopes to issue its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on public charge in the near future.
- U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) Improvements: USCIS continues to work with the Department of State (DOS) to take steps to improve the efficacy, integrity, security and transparency of the USRAP pursuant to EO 14013.
- Family Reunification Task Force: USCIS continues to serve on the Family Reunification Task Force and established a parole process and approved approximately 100 individuals for parole during FY 2021 to help reunify families separated by the prior administration’s Zero-Tolerance and related policies.
- Expansion of Lawful Pathways from Central America: USCIS and DOS reinstituted and expanded the Central American Minors Refugee and Parole Program (CAM), including the resumption of interviews. In Phase One, USCIS and DOS began processing eligible applications that were closed when the CAM program was terminated in January 2018. In Phase Two, eligibility criteria were expanded for certain U.S. based individuals—to include legal guardians in qualifying categories (such as lawful permanent residence, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), parolees, deferred action, Deferred Enforced Departure, or withholding of removal), and parents or legal guardians with a pending asylum application or petition for U nonimmigrant status—to apply for their children to access the CAM program.
Humanitarian Programs
- Operation Allies Welcome: USCIS set up temporary field offices and mobile biometrics processing stations in eight federally approved facilities to process arriving Afghan nationals and family members who assisted the United States in Afghanistan. At these facilities, Afghan nationals applied for employment authorization and have been referred to resettlement services, if they are eligible. USCIS personnel are adjudicating applications for employment authorization and conducting other immigration processing. During FY 2021, USCIS collected biometrics for more than 52,000 individuals and adjudicated more than 28,000 applications for employment authorization.
- Asylum Processing: This past year, USCIS completed approximately 39,000 affirmative asylum cases, 44,000 credible fear determinations, and more than 4,400 reasonable fear determinations. On Aug. 2, 2021, USCIS opened a new asylum office in Tampa, Fla., in response to an increasing asylum workload in Florida.
- Adjudication by Asylum Officers of Protection Claims after Positive Credible Fear Determinations: On Aug. 20, 2021, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published that would amend regulations so that individuals in expedited removal who are found to have a credible fear of persecution or torture could have their claims for asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture initially adjudicated by a USCIS asylum officer through a nonadversarial proceeding, rather than in immigration court by an immigration judge. If implemented, this rule would allow for more efficient adjudication of the protection claims of individuals who establish a credible fear while in the expedited removal process, while ensuring fairness and safeguarding due process. The 60-day public comment period ended on Oct. 19.
- Refugee Interviews: USCIS expanded its capacity to conduct certain refugee applicant interviews remotely using video-teleconferencing, which enabled USCIS to mitigate the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on international travel for much of the year. USCIS also deployed officers to 12 overseas locations to conduct in-person initial refugee interviews or to provide support for video interviews conducted remotely from the United States. USCIS interviewed approximately 6,600 refugee applicants in person and over 3,300 refugee applicants remotely in 23 countries.
- Temporary Protected Status: In FY 2021, USCIS began accepting applications and renewals for TPS under new and/or extended designations for South Sudan, Burma, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Haiti. On July 21, 2021, USCIS publicly launched online filing for initial TPS registration applications for Burma, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. On Aug. 3, when DHS published the designation of Haiti for TPS for 18 months in the Federal Register, USCIS made online filing available for initial TPS registrations. On Aug. 4, DHS announced the extension of the initial registration periods from 180 days to 18 months for initial applicants under the TPS designations for Venezuela, Syria and Burma, similar to the same-length initial registration periods in place regarding applicants from other countries, such as Haiti.
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): Since DACA began in 2012, USCIS has approved approximately 835,000 requests for initial DACA and over 2.3 million requests for renewal of DACA, as of Sept. 30, 2021. The median processing time for DACA renewals and related employment authorization applications through Sept. 30, was approximately 54 days. On Sept. 28, DHS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would preserve and fortify the DACA policy, with a 60-day public comment period that closed on Nov. 29. If finalized as proposed, the rule would codify the existing DACA policy with a few limited changes.
- U Nonimmigrant Bona Fide Determination Process: USCIS announced the U Nonimmigrant Bona Fide Determination Process on June 14, 2021, to address increases in the volume of U nonimmigrant petitions and a growing number of cases awaiting placement on the waiting list or final adjudication. With this initiative, USCIS will be able to provide efficient reviews of U visa petitions and provide work authorization and deferred action to victims of crime in a more timely manner.
Increased Public Engagement
USCIS hosts public engagements on local and national levels involving our community relations officers and subject matter experts. In March 2021, we conducted an agency-wide review of public engagement to reinvigorate our outreach efforts. The review identified key priorities and ways to increase engagement opportunities.
- During FY 2021, USCIS adapted to a virtual engagement environment and had record numbers of attendees for these events.
- USCIS held more than 2,000 virtual engagements with approximately 74,000 attendees, including 2,069 local engagements and 47 engagements at the national level.
- USCIS hosts engagements in English, Spanish, and other languages including Arabic, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Dari, and Urdu.
- We covered more than 20 topics, including citizenship/naturalization, online filing, TPS, public charge, avoiding immigration scams, Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), family-based petitions, business immigration, and COVID-19 visitor procedures for local offices.
Online Filing and Tools
The agency’s transition from paper applications to a fully digital filing and adjudication experience continues to be an important priority for USCIS. Consequently, USCIS continues to expand our online filing capabilities.
- USCIS has continued to expand and enhance the self-help tools available to applicants online and through the agency’s Contact Center with the goal of providing more efficient, timely service.
- Through continued outreach and promotion, the number of myUSCIS online accounts grew from 6.1 million in FY 2020 to 9 million in FY 2021, a growth rate of 48%.
- In FY 2021, approximately 1,210,700 applications were filed online, a 2.3% increase from the 1,184,000 filed in FY 2020.
- In FY 2021, USCIS added two forms for electronic filing:
- Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status; and
- Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, for:
- Temporary Protected Status applicants seeking employment authorization who have an approved form I-821 (a)(12) or a pending form I-821 (c)(19); and
- F-1 students seeking optional practical training (OPT) if they request employment authorization under one of these categories: (c)(3)(A) – Pre-Completion OPT; (c)(3)(B) – Post-Completion OPT; and (c)(3)(C) – 24-Month Extension of OPT for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students.
Increased Data Transparency
USCIS has increased data transparency and availability of new and expanded quarterly reports continues to be an important priority for the agency.
- USCIS has created new quarterly reports for benefit programs, including LRIF that include reporting on receipts broken down by state, gender, as well as fee waiver information.
- For FY 2022, USCIS will be launching a new quarterly report for TPS that includes receipts and approvals for all countries, including new designations from 2021 such as Venezuela and Haiti.
- As part of the efforts to increase naturalization promotion and outreach, USCIS also launched a new webpage outlining key statistics around naturalization highlighting citizenship accomplishment over the last few fiscal years.
For more information on USCIS and our programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Last Reviewed/Updated:
12/16/2021
Release Date 12/12/2025 The Department of Homeland Security is terminating all categorical family reunification parole (FRP) programs for aliens from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras, and their immediate family members. This administration is ending the abuse of humanitarian parole which allowed poorly vetted aliens to circumvent the traditional parole process. Parole was never intended to be used in this way, and DHS is returning parole to a case-by-case basis as intended by Congress. Ending the FRP programs is a necessary return to common-sense policies and a return to America First. The desire to reunite families does not overcome the government’s responsibility to prevent fraud and abuse and to uphold national security and public safety. The FRP programs had security gaps caused by insufficient vetting that malicious and fraudulent actors could exploit to enter the United States, which posed an unacceptable level of risk to the United States. DHS is prioritizing the safety, security, and financial and economic well-being of Americans. A Federal Register notice explains how the termination of the FRP programs will be administered. If an alien was paroled in the United States under the FRP programs and their parole has not yet expired on Jan. 14, 2026, it will terminate on that date unless the alien has a pending Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status , that is postmarked or electronically filed on or before Dec. 15, 2025, and is still pending on Jan. 14, 2026. If the alien has a pending Form I-485, their parole will remain valid until either their period of parole expires or we make a final decision on their pending Form I-485, whichever is sooner. If we deny their Form I-485, their period of parole will be terminated, and they should depart the United States immediately. When we terminate an alien’s period of parole under the FRP programs, we also will revoke their employment authorization based on that parole. We will notify each alien individually that DHS is terminating their parole period and revoking their employment authorization. Aliens who do not have a lawful basis to stay in the United States after termination of the FRP programs must depart the United States before their parole termination date. These aliens should use the CBP Home app to report their intent to depart the United States. Incentives such as an exit bonus, financial and travel document assistance, and forgiveness of civil fines are available to qualifying aliens. See DHS’s CBP Home webpage for more information. Last Reviewed/Updated: 12/12/2025 https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/dhs-ends-the-abuse-of-the-humanitarian-parole-process-and-terminates-family-reunification-parole
Use this form to petition for an immigrant visa under the Gold Card program established by Executive Order 14351, The Gold Card . Forms and Document Downloads Form I-140G (PDF, 958.27 KB) Instructions for Form I-140G (PDF, 295.78 KB) Last Reviewed/Updated: 12/10/2025 https://www.uscis.gov/i-140g
Release Date 12/05/2025 New vetting center will focus on powerful screening resources to keep America safe WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the establishment of a specialized unit to strengthen the ability of America’s immigration system to screen out terrorists, criminal aliens, and other foreign nationals who pose potential threats to public safety or who have committed fraud or other crimes. Once fully operationalized, the USCIS Vetting Center, headquartered in Atlanta, will centralize the enhanced vetting of aliens and allow the agency to respond more nimbly to changes in a shifting threat landscape. “USCIS’ role in the nation’s immigration system has never been more critical. In the wake of several recent incidents of violence, including a foreign national attacking National Guard service members on U.S. soil, establishing this vetting center will give us more enhanced capabilities to safeguard national security and ensure public safety,” said USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow. “Under the Biden administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was pushed to expedite the immigration and naturalization processes with little regard for how that affected national security and the safety of our communities,” said Edlow. “We changed that approach on day one of the Trump administration. Under President Trump, we are building more protective measures that ensure fraud, deception, and threats do not breach the integrity of our immigration system.” Once the new vetting center is fully operational, it will draw on the full spectrum of classified and nonclassified screening and vetting capabilities and provide a more thorough supplemental review of immigration applications and petitions. These reviews will leverage state-of-the-art technologies, including artificial intelligence. The center will utilize Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement and intelligence community screening resources to conduct this critical work and will be tasked with conducting reviews of pending applications as well as a more holistic review of already-approved applications for aliens. Reviews will prioritize applications from presidentially designated countries of concern. This announcement adds to a series of recent efforts that align with presidential Executive Order 14161, Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats . These include the recent implementation of national security measures allowing for immigration officers to consider negative, country-specific factors (such as a nation’s lack of government-issued identity documents and inability to conduct criminal background checks) when vetting aliens from 19 high-risk countries; the recent pause on affirmative asylum application decisions; record-breaking hiring numbers for new USCIS homeland defenders ; a proposed rule to ensure more robust screening and vetting of certain aliens before extending their employment authorizations; and the establishment of USCIS special agents with law enforcement authority to investigate, arrest, and prosecute immigration violations. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) , Instagram , YouTube , Facebook and LinkedIn . https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/us-citizenship-and-immigration-services-establishes-new-center-to-strengthen-immigration-screening Last Reviewed/Updated: 12/05/2025
Release Date 12/04/2025 Maximum validity periods of some Employment Authorization Documents will be reduced WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its Policy Manual to reduce the maximum validity period for Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) for certain categories of aliens. This update also incorporates changes to EAD validity periods made by recent legislation to ensure proper vetting and screening of aliens. The reduced maximum validity periods for certain categories will result in more frequent vetting of aliens who apply for authorization to work in the United States. Vetting an alien more often will enable USCIS to deter fraud and detect aliens with potentially harmful intent so they can be processed for removal from the United States. “Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies. After the attack on National Guard service members in our nation’s capital by an alien who was admitted into this country by the previous administration, it’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct frequent vetting of aliens.” said Director Joseph Edlow. The maximum validity period for initial and renewal EADs will be changed from 5 years back to 18 months for several categories of aliens: Aliens admitted as refugees; Aliens granted asylum; Aliens granted withholding of deportation or removal; Aliens with pending applications for asylum or withholding of removal; Aliens with pending applications for adjustment of status under INA 245; and Aliens with pending applications for suspension of deportation, cancellation of removal, or relief under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act. This change affects aliens with applications for employment authorization that are pending or filed on or after Dec. 5, 2025, and based on any of the above categories. As required by H.R. 1 - One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21, 139 Stat. 72, (H.R. 1), signed into law on July 4, 2025, the validity period for initial and renewal employment authorization documents will be one year or the end date of the authorized parole period or duration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), whichever is shorter for the following categories: Aliens paroled as refugees; Aliens granted TPS; Aliens granted parole; Aliens with a pending TPS application; and Alien spouse of entrepreneur parole. On July 22, 2025, USCIS published a Federal Register notice and issued an announced implementation of H.R. 1 . These validity period requirements apply to any Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, pending or filed on or after July 22, 2025. For more information on applications for employment authorization, visit our Employment Authorization Document page . For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) , Instagram , YouTube , Facebook and LinkedIn . https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-increases-screening-vetting-of-aliens-working-in-us Last Reviewed/Updated: 12/04/2025
Release Date 11/27/2025 USCIS will consider relevant country-specific factors when using its broad discretionary authorities regarding aliens from 19 high-risk countries after halting refugee resettlement from Afghanistan and the entry of Afghan nationals in the first year of the Trump administration. WASHINGTON — In the wake of the shooting of two National Guard service members in Washington, D.C., Wednesday by an Afghan national, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued new guidance allowing for negative, country-specific factors to be considered when vetting aliens from 19 high-risk countries . This guidance comes after the Trump administration halted refugee resettlement from Afghanistan and the entry of Afghan nationals in its first year of office. “My primary responsibility is to ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” said USCIS Director Joseph Edlow. “This includes an assessment of where they are coming from and why. Yesterday’s horrific events make it abundantly clear the Biden administration spent the last four years dismantling basic vetting and screening standards, prioritizing the rapid resettlement of aliens from high-risk countries over the safety of American citizens. The Trump administration takes the opposite approach. Effective immediately, I am issuing new policy guidance that authorizes USCIS officers to consider country-specific factors as significant negative factors when reviewing immigration requests. American lives come first.” The updated guidance, including consideration of country-specific factors such as a country’s ability to issue secure identity documents, will further strengthen USCIS’ implementation of President Trump’s Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10949, Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats . It will allow USCIS officers to more meaningfully assess whether an alien is a threat to public safety and national security. This policy guidance is effective immediately and applies to requests pending or filed on or after Nov. 27, 2025. For more information, see the USCIS Policy Alert . For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) , Instagram , YouTube , Facebook and LinkedIn . https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-implements-additional-national-security-measures-in-the-wake-of-national-guard-shooting-by Last Reviewed/Updated: 11/27/2025
Release Date 11/26/2025 The Department of Homeland Security today posted a Federal Register notice on the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti. After consulting with interagency partners, Secretary Noem concluded that Haiti no longer meets the statutory requirements for TPS. This decision was based on a review conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, input from relevant U.S. government agencies, and an analysis indicating that allowing Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is inconsistent with U.S. national interests. The termination of the Haiti Temporary Protected Status designation is effective February 3, 2026. If you are an alien who is currently a beneficiary of TPS for Haiti, you should prepare to depart if you have no other lawful basis for remaining in the United States. You can use the CBP Home mobile application to report your departure from the United States. This secure and convenient self-deportation process includes a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration to the United States. Find more information about TPS at uscis.gov/tps . For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) , Instagram , YouTube , Facebook and LinkedIn . Last Reviewed/Updated: 11/26/2025 https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/dhs-terminates-temporary-protected-status-for-haiti
https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship-resource-center/resources-for-educational-programs/prepare-for-the-naturalization-interview-and-test
USCIS offers free training seminars designed to enhance the skills needed to teach U.S. history, civics, and the naturalization process to immigrant students. These skills will help educators, volunteers, and organizations offer a comprehensive adult citizenship program. USCIS does not certify teachers or adult citizenship programs. What Will I Learn? Learn more about what USCIS offers at training events. Frequently Asked Questions Find answers to commonly-asked questions about the training seminars. How Do I Register for a Webinar Training? Use our online registration portal . If you do not receive a confirmation email from us within 5-7 business days of registering, or are unable to submit your registration, please email the Office of Citizenship . To request special accommodations, email the Office of Citizenship 45 days before the training event. Be sure to also check out our past training events . Sign up to receive Citizenship Resource Center email updates. https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/resources-for-educational-programs/register-for-training
Release Date 11/20/2025 We have issued a Federal Register notice that will increase certain H.R. 1 immigration-related fees for fiscal year (FY) 2026. These fee adjustments reflect the amount of inflation from July 2024 through July 2025. On July 22, we published a Federal Register notice announcing the implementation of these H.R. 1 immigration-related fees. Beginning in FY 2026, and continuing for each subsequent fiscal year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will adjust some of these fees for inflation, as specified in H.R. 1. The new inflationary-adjusted fees are effective on Jan. 1, 2026. If you submit a benefit request postmarked on or after Jan. 1, 2026, that requires one of these HR-1 fees, you must include the new fee for the specific benefit you are requesting. The fees that are increasing due to this Federal Register notice are listed in the table below.
Release Date 11/24/2025 Burma has made notable progress in governance and stability WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Burma (Myanmar). The termination will be effective on Jan 26, 2026. At least 60 days before a TPS designation expires, the secretary, after consultation with appropriate U.S. government agencies, is required to review the conditions in a country designated for TPS to determine whether the conditions supporting the designation continue to be met, and, if so, how long to extend the designation. If the Secretary determines that the conditions in the foreign state continue to meet the specific statutory criteria for Temporary Protected Status designation, Temporary Protected Status will be extended for an additional period of 6 months or, in the Secretary’s discretion, 12 or 18 months. If the Secretary determines that the foreign state no longer meets the conditions for Temporary Protected Status designation, the Secretary must terminate the designation. “This decision restores TPS to its original status as temporary,” said Secretary Kristi Noem. “The situation in Burma has improved enough that it is safe for Burmese citizens to return home, so we are terminating the Temporary Protected Status. Burma has made notable progress in governance and stability, including the end of its state of emergency, plans for free and fair elections, successful ceasefire agreements, and improved local governance contributing to enhanced public service delivery and national reconciliation.” After conferring with interagency partners, Secretary Noem determined that conditions in Burma no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements. The Secretary’s decision was based on a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services review of the conditions in Burma and in consultation with the Department of State. The Secretary determined that, overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Burmese citizens can return home in safety. She further determined that permitting Burmese nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States. Burmese nationals returning home are encouraged to use the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP Home app to report their departure from the United States. https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-terminating-temporary-protected-status-for-burma Last Reviewed/Updated: 11/24/2025
