Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) rule on public charge inadmissibility went into effect, requiring the use of Form I-944 Declaration of Self-Sufficiency for adjustment of status applicants in deciding whether the applicant is inadmissible based on public charge grounds. Since then, the legal status of the public charge rule has been in limbo, as nationwide injunctions have halted implementation of the public charge rule only to have the injunction’s scope limited in the same week and completely reversed the week after. The amount of uncertainty surrounding the public charge rule has made it difficult to know how to advise clients.

Most recently, on December 2, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld preliminary injunctions issued against the rule that were issued by the Northern District of California and the Eastern District of Washington. At this time, it remains unclear whether the preliminary injunction applies nationwide in scope or if it only applies to the plaintiff states (CA, DC, ME, OR, PA, WA, CO, DE, IL, MD, MA, MN, NV, NJ, NM, RI, HI). As of December 8, 2020, USCIS has not yet decided how to implement the state-specific injunction and has not updated its guidance since November 4, 2020. For now, we believe that the safest approach is to prepare and file the I-944 with adjustment of status applications.

The attorneys at Curray York & Associates will continue to closely monitor the situation and provide updates when possible.