The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finalized a rule rescinding the 2022 Public Charge rule, which has governed public charge determinations for AOS applicants since December 2022. This rule becomes effective on September 18, 2026. Rather than replacing it with a new formal regulation, DHS plans to govern public charge determinations through policy guidance and interpretative tools, which gives USCIS officers significantly broader discretion.

Highlights of Changes:

• The guardrails from the 2022 rule are eliminated.
  • These included narrow statutory definitions, a limited list of public benefits that count, clear minimum factors, etc.
• The rule returns to a totality of the circumstances analysis, where officers have broader discretion to weigh age, health, education, family status, financial status, and benefits history more subjectively.
• The scope of benefits considered may expand, given this wording from the final rule: “receipt of any means-tested public benefit, or being otherwise noncompliant with any condition of the public charge bond, results in a breach of that bond and [the new rule] eliminat[es] language stating that ‘USCIS may cancel a public charge bond at any time after determining that the alien is not likely at any time to become a public charge.’”

Note: This DHS/USCIS action is separate from, but in many ways consistent with, the Department of State’s already-more-stringent consular screening posture, including the public charge-based visa issuance pause for nationals of 75 countries that took effect January 21, 2026.

For employment-based adjustment of status cases (EB-1, EB-2/NIW, EB-3) public charge has generally been a low-friction element of a well-documented filing. Broader officer discretion raises the value of a thorough, consistent financial and benefits record at filing, particularly for beneficiaries with dependents who’ve used any public benefits, or cases where income documentation is less clean (self-employment, recent job changes, equity compensation). The notification from USCIS also notes that a new Form I-485 will be released closer to September, so we will continue to monitor any changes to the requirements.