Federal Court Ruling Mandates USCIS to Resume Processing Applications From Travel Ban Nationals
DHS announced in January 2026 that they were pausing all nonimmigrant processing at USCIS Service Centers (petitions for extensions, changes of status, employment authorizations etc.) for nationals from the 39+ travel ban countries until DHS could establish new vetting procedures. See ISSO news for more details. On June 5, 2026, the Federal District Court for Rhode Island in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island vs. USCIS set aside and declared unlawful the policy of withholding review of USCIS petitions and applications involving individuals whose country of birth or citizenship is among the 39+ countries subject to a partial or complete travel ban. The Court found that the policy was contrary to the Immigration and Nationality Act, was arbitrary and capricious, and vacated the policy in its entirety nationwide. USCIS must now resume adjudicating petitions and applications from or, on behalf of nationals of the travel ban countries.
It will take some time to see if USCIS will send requests for evidence to petitioners to gather additional information or whether they will just resume standard processing. They are likely to prioritize pending cases filed via the USCIS premium processing expedite service based on receipt date. USCIS may choose to appeal this ruling in the coming weeks or months which could result in another pause on processing while this matter proceeds through the courts. Depending on the type of USCIS application, you should contact your ISSO advisor or the immigration attorney who represents you should you have any questions about how this could impact pending or future applications.