The landscape for foreign nationals seeking permanent legal residency in the United States has taken a drastic turn. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) implemented a new directive that transforms the adjudication rules. Technical memorandum PM-602-0199 does not modify the text of existing law, as that is an exclusive power of Congress. However, the document drastically raises the standard of discretion for immigration officers tasked with evaluating cases. This measure introduces severe difficulties for those seeking to obtain permanent resident status (LPR).
The administrative reform puts a definitive end to the procedure that civil organizations called the “normal process.” Previously, case evaluation focused on determining whether the applicant met the requirements established by law. From now on, the immigration officer has the authority to question whether the foreign national truly deserves to receive the benefit within the country. This change in approach requires consideration of whether the applicant should leave the territory to conduct a consular procedure abroad.
Entry with or without documentation no longer represents the determining factor to anticipate the success of immigration processing. Uncertainty grips thousands of families who fear a wave of unfavorable responses based on subjective criteria. Various analysts warn that the lack of independent oversight of USCIS officers leaves applicants unprotected. Decisions now largely depend on the individual judgment of the assigned evaluator.
How Many Applications Are Accumulated Under the New Regulation?
The magnitude of the administrative backlog in federal offices reveals a processing crisis of historic proportions. The agency’s official databases reflect an accumulated inventory of 11,651,012 pending applications awaiting resolution. Of that large total, a specific group of 5,208,264 cases is directly in the sights of the new discretionary regulation. This volume of delayed cases represents 44.7% of all the workload that keeps the institution paralyzed.
The breakdown of statistical data allows for measuring the real impact for each type of form submitted to the Government. The inventory includes 1,234,917 adjustment of status applications corresponding to form I-485. Likewise, family reunification petitions under form I-130 total 2,357,348 cases awaiting processing. To these figures are added 180,439 employment-related petitions and 1,435,560 affirmative asylum applications.
| Type of Immigration Form | Pending Cases at USCIS | Percentage of Total Backlog |
| I-485 (Adjustment of Status) | 1,234,917 applications | 10.6% of total inventory |
| I-130 (Family Petitions) | 2,357,348 applications | 20.2% of total inventory |
| I-140 (Employment Petitions) | 180,439 applications | 1.5% of total inventory |
| I-589 (Affirmative Asylum) | 1,435,560 applications | 12.3% of total inventory |
It is essential to clarify that institutional statistics count the number of cases and not the number of individual persons. A single foreign applicant may simultaneously maintain two or more proceedings before the control authorities. David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the CATO Institute, characterized the measure as a mass denial strategy. For the specialist, the agency moved from silent neglect to turning its back completely on immigrants.
