USCIS announced that starting November 19 it may issue Notices to Appear (NTAs — the first step in the deportation process) based on the denial of the following cases:

•  T visa petitions;
• U and U-1 visa petitions;
• I-360 petitions for Amerasian/Widows/Widowers;
• Special Immigrant petitions (including Violence Against Women Act self-petitions and Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions);
• I-730 Refugee/Asylee Relative Petitions; and
• I-485 Adjustment of Status Petitions that are filed with the above underlying petitions.

USCIS may issue an NTA if applicants are no longer in status and do not depart the U.S., and it “will continue to send denial letters for these applications and petitions to ensure adequate notice regarding period of authorized stay, checking travel compliance, or validating departure from the United States.”

This announcement furthers the implementation of USCIS’s June 28, 2018 policy memorandum regarding referral cases and NTAs in cases involving inadmissible and deportable aliens. 

The first part of this policy memorandum was implemented on October 1, when USCIS began administering NTAs to denied I-485 Adjustment of Status petitions and I-539 petitions to Extend or Change Nonimmigrant Status but did not extend to employment-based cases. 

Employment-based cases are still not affected; however, the following cases are still prioritized under this policy memorandum:

• Fraudulent or misrepresented cases involving evidence of public benefit abuse.
• Criminal cases where the applicant is charged or convicted of a criminal offence.
• N-400, Application for Naturalization cases that were denied because of a criminal offence.
• Unlawful residence cases where the applicant is illegally present in the United States.

You can find USCIS’s initial announcement regarding the furthered implementation of this new policy memorandum by visiting the USCIS website.

See below for the full USCIS policy memorandum.