Family-Based Immigration

Reporting and analysis on family-sponsored petitions, marriage and fiancé visas, adjustment of status, and consular processing.

newspaper Latest News & Policy Updates

A USCIS building sign, representing green card cases that are interviewed quickly and then held for months of background checks.
Adjustment of Status

USCIS Now Interviews First, Then Sits on Your I-485

USCIS I-485 delays after the interview aren't usually about your case. The agency now runs the interview first and does background checks after, and the wait is the point.

Jul 28, 2026 • 6 min read
A printed June 2026 visa bulletin and a draft I-130 receipt notice.
F-2A

F-2A Just Went Current. Your Country Is Paused. Sue for the I-130 First.

F-2A spouses and minor children of LPRs are current across the board in the June 2026 visa bulletin. Beneficiaries from countries on the State Department's overstay-rate pause cannot reach NVC until USCIS adjudicates the I-130 — and USCIS is sitting on those files. The clean fix is a mandamus on the I-130, before the policy fight at NVC even begins.

Jun 10, 2026 • 6 min read
A Medicaid renewal letter and a joint federal tax return on the same desk.
I-751

USC Spouse Stays on Medicaid as 'Single.' The Damage Lands on the LPR's I-751.

A U.S. citizen wife who keeps collecting Medicaid and SNAP as a single parent — while her conditional-resident husband sits beside her on a joint tax return — is not creating a public-charge problem. She is creating a bona fides problem. USCIS can RFE for benefits records at the I-751, and the inconsistency travels into the N-400 good-moral-character analysis.

Jun 10, 2026 • 6 min read
A USCIS envelope on a wooden desk, partially opened to reveal a folded official letter.
B-2 Visa

B-2 Extension RFEs Are Now Immigrant-Intent Traps for AOS Filers

USCIS is issuing requests for evidence on pending B-2 extension requests citing the applicant's later marriage-based I-485 as proof the visit-visa intent was never temporary. Practitioners say the move positions a §212(a)(6)(C)(i) misrepresentation finding to follow the applicant into adjustment of status.

Jun 9, 2026 • 7 min read
USCIS branding photographed against a blue field.
I-485

Two-Year Pending I-485? The Case for Lying Low in 2026

An applicant whose marriage-based green-card case has been pending for nearly two years called USCIS twice this spring to ask for a status update. The reply both times was a soft promise to schedule the interview. The advice from the bar in 2026: stop asking.

Jun 9, 2026 • 6 min read
Exterior columns and steps of a federal courthouse at street level.
In-Absentia Removal

The Old In-Absentia Removal Order Trap: When a 2008 Order Resurfaces

Brought as a child, left the country as a teenager, then traveled in and out for years — and only discovers through a FOIA request that an immigration judge ordered removal in absentia in 2008. A familiar pattern, with sharply narrowed exits in 2026.

Jun 7, 2026 • 9 min read
A hand turning the page of an open policy binder on a quiet desk.
J-1 Visa

J-1 Scholars and the May 2026 Memo: A Narrower Path to a Green Card

A J-1 research scholar engaged to a U.S. citizen calls in to ask whether to marry and adjust now, or renew the J-1 and wait. The new USCIS adjustment-of-status memo has reshaped the answer — and not in the direction J-1 holders were hoping.

Jun 7, 2026 • 8 min read
A wooden table and chairs in a sparse interview room, late afternoon light.
I-485

Adjustment of Status Interview Prep in 2026

USCIS is now interviewing nearly every I-485 applicant, including employment-based filers. With the May 21 memo redefining adjustment as 'extraordinary' discretionary relief, what attorneys tell clients about the in-status defense, the 60/90-day fraud presumption, and the questions officers are asking has changed sharply.

Jun 6, 2026 • 10 min read