In a move that will place hundreds of thousands of green card applicants under broader scrutiny each year, the Trump administration is allowing immigration officers to consider whether some applicants have used taxpayer-funded benefits — including Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance — when determining whether they qualify for permanent legal status.
The Department of Homeland Security is poised to rescind a 2022 Biden-era regulation narrowing how officers apply a long-standing “public charge” test — an immigration screening tool used to determine whether applicants are likely to rely on government support — according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials.
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Under existing federal immigration law, some individuals applying for a visa, admission to the U.S. or green cards can be deemed inadmissible if the government determines they are likely “at any time” to become a public charge.
The Biden-era rule, issued in 2022, limited the benefits DHS could consider to primarily cash welfare payments meant to cover basic living expenses and long-term institutional care paid for by the federal government.
The new final rule restores the broader discretion USCIS had during the first Trump administration, so that officers can conduct case-by-case reviews that consider an applicant’s age, health, family status, assets, financial resources, education, skills and whether the person has received means-tested taxpayer-funded benefits.
Those benefits can include food stamps, Medicaid and even housing assistance, according to USCIS officials.
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The rule applies to noncitizens inside the U.S. applying to adjust their status to lawful permanent residence, plus noncitizens seeking admission to the United States as immigrants or nonimmigrants, unless they fall into categories exempted by Congress. Historically, the public charge test exempts some refugees, asylees and those in humanitarian categories, including Special Immigrant Juveniles, certain trafficking and crime victims, and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners.
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USCIS officials told CBS News that benefits received by an applicant’s family members will not be treated as the applicant’s own, though officers may still consider them when assessing the applicant’s finances. For instance, those benefits may factor in if they suggest the applicant cannot financially support the household or if the benefits are helping to support the applicant.
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The rule is expected to be filed for public inspection Thursday, with its effective date slated for early next week. But USCIS will not begin applying the new public-charge framework for 60 days, giving the agency time to update forms, guidance and internal procedures, and pushing the operational date into September.
For applications filed before the rule becomes operational, USCIS officials say they will only assess means-tested public benefits received on or after that date. In other words, benefits received before the program is operational will generally only be considered only if they included public cash assistance for income maintenance or long-term institutionalization at the government’s expense.
Along with the final rule, USCIS plans to publish a revised Form I-485, the application used by people seeking to register permanent residence or adjust status. Older versions of the form postmarked or submitted electronically on or after the rule is operational will no longer be accepted.
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