USCIS Expected to Pause Adjudication of All Fingerprint-Based Benefit Requests

We anticipate that applications requiring fingerprinting will be placed under an adjudication pause based on information provided by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers at various field and asylum offices.

The basis of the adjudication pause is likely rooted in a new security vetting process at USCIS that became effective as of April 27. An internal memo distributed within USCIS directed officers to submit pending applications for enhanced FBI background checks and withhold adjudication until the security clearances were completed.

The initial round of impacted cases is expected to encompass those for which fingerprints had already been provided before April 27. This includes Adjustment of Status and asylum applications but is expected to impact a broader range of adjudications, such as family-based green card sponsorship petitions as well as any other application requiring the submission of biometrics.

It is expected that newly filed cases received after April 27 will be placed in a queue, to be processed for submission of fingerprint checks, only after the initial backlog of all previously filed and pending cases have completed the new security vetting process. The only exception at this time appears to be for US citizenship applications whose oath ceremonies have already been scheduled. Given the extraordinarily large volume of cases that will require fingerprint processing, this new system is expected to result in substantial adjudication delays.

We are monitoring the situation closely pending an official announcement from USCIS.