USCIS Issues New Affidavit of Support Form With No Grace Period and Advises on Impact of Sponsor’s Credit or Security Freeze

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USCIS Issues New Affidavit of Support Form With No Grace Period and Advises on Impact of Sponsor’s Credit or Security Freeze

September 1, 2026

With no warning or extended grace period, USCIS published on August 31, 2026 a new required version of  Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA  with the edition date of 08/24/26.  Without this grace period, unfortunately any submitted Form I-485 Application to Adjust Status with an I-864 will presumably be rejected by USCIS if postmarked on or after August 31, 2026. This will lead to a significant delay before the applicant can re-apply; USCIS will likely not return the rejected package to the applicant or attorney for several weeks and the applicant then has to resubmit the entire application package with the updated I-864 along with the previously submitted sealed medical exams, photographs, and supporting documents.

Further complicating this new required version of Form I-864 without any grace period is that USCIS is also requiring a new version of Form I-485 effective September 18, 2026.

USCIS announced that the new edition of Form I-864 includes a privacy release that authorizes USCIS to request information from one or more consumer reporting agencies. Per USCIS, “[i]f the sponsor has a credit or security freeze on their consumer or credit report file, USCIS may not be able to access the information necessary to assess the sufficiency of Form I-864. To avoid any delays, a sponsor should expeditiously respond to any requests made to release a credit or security freeze.”

As a result, any Affidavit of Support sponsor or co-sponsor should ensure that they do not have any credit or security freezes prior to the submission of the application to USCIS or otherwise a delay in processing would result from USCIS’ issuance of a Request for Evidence to take these actions.

The Form I-864 Affidavit of Support is required for family-based adjustment of status (permanent residence) applications filed with USCIS along with certain employment-based applications.