USCIS Changes Many Forms With No Notice, Adds Grace Periods After Complaint Filed

On March 8, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted changes to many forms with no prior notice and no grace period, requiring immediate use. This was immediately followed by a complaint filed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and Benach Collopy LLP for declaratory and injunctive relief to challenge USCIS’s publishing new editions of immigration forms with no notice and requiring their use with no grace period.

AILA explained that on Monday, March 3, and again on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, USCIS “abruptly posted multiple forms for immediate use and removed the previous versions, only permitting the submission of the new form editions. No notice was given, no grace period was implemented.” AILA said that across the United States, “immigration attorneys and their clients were faced with the reality that potentially tens of thousands of forms that had been submitted properly and in accordance with the law would be rejected even if mailed before the new form was made available.” AILA said it reached out to USCIS to “request a grace period for acceptance of the new forms, but the agency offered no clear relief or public guidance” and thus “litigation was required.” Shortly after AILA filed the lawsuit, USCIS responded that “while no definite grace period is being provided, USCIS will exercise its discretion to not reject previous versions of forms that are submitted for a reasonable period after the new versions take effect.” USCIS then subsequently posted grace periods.

According to AILA, at least some of the changes are related to gender identity language and reinstituting the use of “alien.”

This is posting is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal advice. If you require further assistance or advice relating to the above, please contact our Senior Associate Lawyer, Catherine Betancourt at catherine@flynnhodkinson.com.