By Angelita Chavez-Halaka and Armando Escobedo
On September 22, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed rule regarding inadmissibility for usage of public benefits that would significantly impact individuals seeking legal admission to the U.S. known as “public charge.” We would like to stress that these changes are currently being reviewed and have not been adopted.
Under the proposed rule, individuals currently receiving the following government benefit programs or have received benefits in the previous 36 months, are subject to DHS public charge inadmissibility determination:
DHS will determine inadmissibility based on the “totality of circumstances,” if at any time in the future, an individual is likely to become a public charge, weighed by the following factors at the time of the application:
Under the current language, USCIS would apply the new public charge ruling when adjudicating applications for individuals seeking:
The proposed rule would not impact the following groups:
Once the proposed policy is officially published in the Federal Register, it will enter a 60-day public comment period. DHS will issue a finalized rule after carefully reviewing public comments. As always, we will continue to monitor this new rule.
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