On March 9th, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the government would no longer defend pending Federal and Supreme court challenges to the Trump Administration’s Public Charge Rule, which has been heavily litigated, with on-again, off-again injunctions impacting its enforcement, since its introduction in August of 2019.
This announcement appears to be the final death knell to the Rule, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has already removed the associated Form I-944 Declaration of Self-Sufficiency from its website and stated that it will revert to using the prior Public Charge Statute and Interim Field Guidance, which was introduced 1999 and had been in place prior to the introduction of the new Public Charge Rule in 2019.
In light of this, effective March 9th, 2021, USCIS will no longer require applicants to submit a Form I-944 in connection with any adjustment of status application. In addition, for cases where an I-944 was submitted, if USCIS adjudicates the case after March 9th, it will not consider any information that relates solely to the Public Charge Rule in adjudicating the case.
With respect to nonimmigrant visa filings, for applications and petitions requesting an extension or change of nonimmigrant status submitted after March 9th, applicants and petitioners should not provide information related to the receipt of public benefits on Form I-129 (Part 6), Form I-539 (Part 5), and Form I-539A (Part 3). USCIS is working to issued additional guidance/revised forms but, in the interim, will not reject any forms based on whether the public benefits questions have been completed or left blank.
USCIS also instructed that individuals who received Requests for Evidence (RFEs) requesting information relating to the Public Charge Rule where the response deadline is after March 9th, 2021, are not required to provide that information (though D&S still recommends responding to the RFE with a printout of the USCIS website indicating that the applicant is no longer required to provide the requested information).
D&S will continue to monitor developments related to the rescission of the Rule and provide updates as they become available.