USCIS Froze Cases From 39 Countries. Two Courts Have Now Blocked That. Here's What It Means for Your Pending Case
Since December 2025, USCIS had frozen green card, citizenship, work permit and asylum decisions for people from travel ban countries. A Rhode Island court vacated the hold in June, and a California court ordered normal processing for a nationwide class in August. But an appeals court let one piece continue: re-reviewing benefits already approved. Here's where each piece stands.
Published Last updated 4 min read
Not legal advice. This article is general information only. It is not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Do not rely on it to decide what to do in your own case. Immigration rules change, so confirm current requirements at uscis.gov and talk to a licensed immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative.
In this article
For nine months, if you were born in or were a citizen of one of the countries on the presidential travel ban list, your case at USCIS probably didn't move, no matter how long you'd lived here or how strong your application was. Green card interviews were canceled, naturalization oath ceremonies were postponed, and pending asylum cases sat untouched.
That has changed, mostly. Two separate federal courts have blocked the hold, and USCIS says it will follow their orders. But one related policy is back in effect, and it's the one that worries people who already have their green card or citizenship. Facts are current as of September 27, 2026.
How the hold worked
The hold came from two USCIS policy memoranda tied to presidential travel ban proclamations:
- PM-602-0192, December 2, 2025, applied to nationals of the 19 countries in Proclamation 10949, issued June 4, 2025.
- PM-602-0194, January 1, 2026, expanded it to the 39 countries in Proclamation 10998, plus people using Palestinian Authority travel documents.
Under those memos, USCIS paused final decisions on pending benefit applications, including adjustment of status, naturalization and work permits, regardless of when the person entered the U.S. A related asylum hold stopped asylum decisions. It also treated coming from a listed country as a negative factor in discretionary decisions, and it set up a re-review of benefits already approved for some people from those countries.
The 39 countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, among others. The State Department's travel ban page lists them all.
Court order 1: Rhode Island vacates four policies
On June 5, 2026, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS that the policies were unlawful and vacated four of them:
- the suspension of benefit decisions for nationals of travel ban countries;
- treating travel ban nationality as a negative discretionary factor;
- the re-review of previously approved benefits; and
- the suspension of asylum decisions.
Vacatur applies to the policies themselves, so the ruling wasn't limited to the organizations that sued. The government appealed to the First Circuit.
The appeals court puts one policy back
On August 14, the First Circuit granted the government a partial stay while the appeal continues. It left the ruling in place for three of the four policies. The exception is the re-review policy. USCIS may resume re-examining approved benefits for nationals of travel ban countries where the benefit was approved on or after January 20, 2021, or the person entered the U.S. on or after that date.
USCIS hasn't publicly described how the re-review works or what it can lead to. What's clear is that it looks back at decisions already made, not at pending applications.
Court order 2: California certifies a nationwide class
A second case reached a similar result by a different route. On August 24, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Edlow, enjoined PM-602-0192 and PM-602-0194 and ordered USCIS "to adjudicate applications in the normal course of USCIS' process."
The court certified a class covering citizens or natives of the 39 countries or the Palestinian Authority who have an asylum application or any other USCIS benefit application pending that was subject to the hold and hadn't been finally decided as of the date of class certification. USCIS posted an alert on August 28 saying it "strongly disagrees with the Court's order but will follow its terms pending possible further judicial review," and that it "will issue updated instructions."
What this means for you
If your application is pending
Both courts have ordered USCIS to stop holding cases because of nationality. Your case should move through the normal process, including interviews, requests for evidence and decisions. If nothing has happened since late August:
- Check your case status and your USCIS online account for new notices.
- After a reasonable wait, submit a case inquiry, and keep a record of it. If your case is outside normal processing times, you may be able to request help from the CIS Ombudsman or your congressional representative.
- Talk to an attorney about whether the Red Eagle class covers you and whether a mandamus lawsuit makes sense for a long-stalled case.
Normal processing doesn't mean approval. Officers still apply the regular rules, including the new public charge standard for green card cases filed on or after September 18, 2026 and heightened vetting generally.
If your benefit was already approved
If you're a national of a listed country and USCIS approved your benefit, or you entered, on or after January 20, 2021, the re-review policy can apply to you. If you get any USCIS letter about reviewing an approved benefit, don't ignore it, and get legal advice before responding. Keep copies of everything you originally filed.
For naturalized citizens, a separate policy governs when USCIS refers cases for denaturalization, which happens only through federal court. We explain that in our post on the denaturalization guidance.
Travel is a separate question
These court orders are about USCIS decisions inside the United States. They don't change Proclamation 10998, which still restricts visa issuance and entry for nationals of the 39 countries. Green card holders are exempt from the proclamation, but anyone else from a listed country should get advice before leaving the U.S.
What to watch
The First Circuit appeal in Dorcas is ongoing, and the government may appeal Red Eagle. A ruling for the government in either case could change what USCIS is allowed to do. USCIS alerts and the Policy Manual are where changes will show up first.
