The Department of Homeland Security’s final rule rescinding the 2022 public-charge regulations takes effect September 18, 2026, restoring U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers’ broader discretion to weigh whether a green card or visa applicant is likely to become a “public charge.” The rule, published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2026 (91 FR 45324, DHS Docket No. USCIS-2025-0304), replaces the narrower 2022 standard — which counted only cash assistance for income maintenance and long-term institutionalization — with a case-by-case review across five factors: age, health, family status, assets and financial resources, and education and skills.
The change lands hardest on applicants filing Form I-485 to adjust status from within the United States, including the large pool of employment-based green card applicants — many from India — waiting in the immigration backlog. Filings submitted on or after September 18 must use the new I-485 edition dated 09/18/26, with immigration-law specialists noting no transition or grace period for the old form. Benefits received before September 18 will generally be assessed under the earlier, narrower framework; benefits received on or after that date fall under the expanded review, which can include a wider range of cash, food and housing-related assistance. Several categories remain exempt, including refugees, asylees, special immigrant juveniles, VAWA self-petitioners and certain trafficking victims, and receiving a benefit does not automatically trigger a denial — USCIS says it must weigh an applicant’s overall circumstances.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a coalition of more than 20 states, while New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is leading a separate coalition of cities and counties — including Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Seattle and King County — in twin lawsuits filed September 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suits argue DHS unlawfully abandoned the more-than-century-old definition of “public charge” and failed to adequately weigh the rule’s health, safety and economic consequences, and both are seeking to have the rule struck down entirely rather than just temporarily blocked. A DHS spokesperson dismissed the litigation to Courthouse News as “ideological contortion,” saying “sanctuary states” fear losing federal funding if immigrants stop using welfare programs.
No court has ruled on either lawsuit as of this writing, and DHS’s rule remains scheduled to take effect September 18 as planned. Business Standard reported the litigation “remains pending, so the position could change if a court intervenes,” meaning the rule could still be paused or narrowed later even as it takes effect now. The change is a separate mechanism from the H-1B wage-floor rule Zagdim covered this week: that regulation governs prevailing wages for work-visa sponsorship, while this one governs the inadmissibility test applied to green card and visa applicants generally.
References
Federal Register – Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility / Business Standard – US green card rules change Sept 18: New checks applicants must know / Courthouse News Service – Mamdani takes on Trump over green card restrictions
