DHS rescinds the 2022 public charge rule: more benefits may affect green card applications
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has prepared a new rule titled Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility — a ground of inadmissibility based on the likelihood that a person may become dependent on government assistance. The rule rescinds the 2022 public charge regulations and returns to a broader review of applicants for public charge — meaning a person likely to become a government burden.
The rule is scheduled to be published on July 20, 2026, and to take effect 60 days later — approximately on September 18, 2026.
The main change is that DHS will no longer limit the review only to cash assistance and long-term government-funded institutional care. USCIS officers will be able to consider means-tested public benefits — benefits for which eligibility depends on a person’s income or resources.
This may include benefits that were generally not considered under the 2022 rule, such as SNAP food assistance, Medicaid, CHIP children’s health insurance, housing subsidies, and other programs if eligibility depends on income.
Form I-485 — the application for a green card inside the United States — will also change. Applicants will need to report not only the receipt of such benefits, but also applications for them, approvals, or certifications of eligibility.
DHS is also removing the detailed list of exempt categories from the federal regulations. However, DHS states that lawful exemptions are not being eliminated.
For green card applicants, this means a stricter and less predictable review. Receiving benefits will not automatically mean denial, but it may become part of the public charge inadmissibility analysis — inadmissibility based on the likelihood of becoming dependent on government assistance.
DHS acknowledges that, because of the new rule, many immigrants and mixed-status families may avoid public benefits out of fear for their immigration cases.
❗️We emphasize again! Even though the list of exemptions is being removed from the rule, all exemptions remain in place. They will now be taken not from the Federal Register, but from the USCIS Policy Manual.
❗️The public charge rule still does not apply to asylum seekers.
Source: DHS/USCIS, Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility.
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