USCIS expands vetting, nationality pauses
USCIS has rolled out expanded screening and extra vetting layers across pending family- and employment-based benefit applications, creating more requests for evidence and longer timelines for approvals. (ahluwalialaw.com) The tighter regime appears to include nationality‑based pauses: attorneys report USCIS told a reporter it will not approve OPT for Iranians—impacting at least 698 professionals—and data shows the pause affects applicants from roughly 39 countries. (x.com) (x.com)
USCIS published a March 30, 2026 update saying it has expanded its security screening and issued multiple policy memoranda that pause final approvals and re‑review certain granted benefits. (uscis.gov) The agency tied the new measures to Executive Order 14161 and two presidential proclamations that together cover 39 countries, and it says the pauses cover pending and some previously approved benefits while the agency conducts a comprehensive review. (uscis.gov) (whitehouse.gov) The policy memoranda use an adjudicative “hold” that allows cases to move through processing up to—but not including—a final adjudication (a final approval or denial), and they order a re‑review of approvals issued on or after January 20, 2021. (uscis.gov) USCIS and campus legal offices list the benefit types now subject to heightened scrutiny or holds — examples include employment authorization documents (Form I‑765, which covers OPT and STEM OPT work authorization), adjustment of status (Form I‑485), travel documents (Form I‑131), and other routine filings — and agencies warn applicants may see more requests for evidence, additional interviews, or shorter EAD validity periods. (international.vt.edu) (ahluwalialaw.com) The agency is adding specific checks: broader social‑media and financial vetting, stricter photo/biometric confirmation rules, new database checks with the State Department, and a separate initiative called Operation PARRIS that re‑examined thousands of refugee cases (initially about 5,600 in Minnesota) through re‑interviews, background checks, and referrals to enforcement when indicated. (ahluwalialaw.com) (uscis.gov) The changes have produced immediate operational impacts — universities and local reporting describe researchers and professionals seeing paused adjudications and stalled careers — and Operation PARRIS has already faced litigation and at least one court order limiting parts of the program. (wgbh.org) (globalrefuge.org)
