On August 14, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a final rule governing public charge grounds of inadmissibility. Unless litigation stops the rule from going into effect, it will go into effect on October 15, 2019. This rule drastically changes the standard by which DHS determine whether an applicant for adjustment of status (“Green Card”) or admission is likely to become a “public charge” and therefore inadmissible to the United States. Under this final rule, USCIS will no longer consider whether an applicant is primarily depending on public benefits and instead redefines “public charge” to mean any noncitizen who received a specified public benefit for more than 12 months in the aggregate within any 36-month period. There are some exceptions. Please contact us if you have concerns about whether you have received public benefits in the past.
