DHS Restores Broader Public Charge Reviews for Green Card Applicants

The Department of Homeland Security is restoring broader discretion for immigration officers to consider whether green card applicants have used taxpayer-funded benefits when deciding eligibility for permanent legal status. The agency is rescinding a 2022 regulation that had narrowed the public charge test.

Officers will now conduct case-by-case reviews that include an applicant's age, health, family status, assets, financial resources, education, skills and receipt of means-tested benefits.

The new final rule applies to noncitizens inside the United States who are applying to adjust status and to those seeking admission as immigrants or nonimmigrants, unless exempted by Congress. USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow stated that the federal government is reaffirming the requirement of self-reliance and restoring the principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves.

In its November 2025 proposal, DHS estimated that roughly 588,000 adjustment-of-status applicants each year would be subject to public-charge review. The department assessed that changes could lead about 950,000 people in immigrant households to disenroll from or forgo public benefits.

The rule is expected to be filed for public inspection Thursday and is slated to take effect early next week. For applications filed before the effective date, USCIS will only assess means-tested public benefits received on or after that date. USCIS plans to publish a revised Form I-485 along with the final rule.

Between fiscal years 2020 and 2024, public charge denials of adjustment-of-status applications ranged from 41 to 95 total annually. During the period when the 2019 Trump rule was in effect, DHS identified just five cases of denials or notices of intent to deny based on the full public charge analysis, and those cases were later reopened or rescinded.