Does my matter belong with USCIS or with the immigration court?
USCIS handles family petitions on Form I-130, green card applications on Form I-485, work permits, naturalization and affirmative asylum. It does not run removal cases or issue visas abroad. The immigration judge generally has exclusive authority over an adjustment application from a person in removal proceedings. Arriving aliens, including many people paroled at a port of entry, are the reverse: they generally file with USCIS, and a judge can hear the application only in a narrow advance parole situation. Asylum in court also belongs to the judge, except that an asylum officer first decides an unaccompanied child's application. A family petition still goes to USCIS. So before you mail anything, confirm whether a Notice to Appear was ever issued. If you are unsure, use our guide to finding an immigration court case first, because a filing sent to the wrong agency can cost you time you do not have.
How do I file so USCIS does not reject the package?
Open the form's own page on the day you file and check the edition date, the address and the fee. The current Fee Schedule, Form G-1055, is the 10/26/26 edition. A wrong fee means rejection, and a rejected request does not keep a filing date. Paper checks and money orders are generally no longer accepted. Pay with Form G-1450 by card or Form G-1650 from a U.S. bank account; a paper payment needs Form G-1651 and a listed reason. Pay each form separately, because USCIS may reject a whole package sent with one combined payment. Pub. L. 119-21 fees need their own separate payment alongside any filing fee. If you cannot pay, Form I-912 can waive many filing fees, but those Pub. L. 119-21 fees are still due. Filing fees are not refunded after a denial. Online filings are paid through pay.gov from inside the filing, never directly on that site, and scam sites imitate it.
What do I do when USCIS asks for more evidence or plans to deny?
Find the response date on the notice and work back from it. By regulation a request for evidence can give up to 12 weeks and a notice of intent to deny up to 30 days, and extra time may not be granted. Missing the date can mean denial as abandoned, on the record, or both. If you cannot attend biometrics or an interview, ask to reschedule before the date. Send one complete response, because a partial one invites a decision on what you sent. Read a notice of intent to deny as the agency's draft reasoning, and answer each reason with evidence. To track a case, use your online account or call the Contact Center at 800-375-5283, TTY 800-767-1833, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. If the wording of a notice or a sworn form is unclear to you, get help before you answer it.
How do I change my address, speed up a case or get my file?
Report a move within 10 days in your online account. A USPS change does not update USCIS, and a mailed Form AR-11 does not update your pending cases. An expedite is discretionary. The listed reasons include severe financial loss, an urgent humanitarian situation and a clear USCIS error; needing a work permit alone usually does not qualify. Ask after you have a receipt notice, through the Contact Center or a secure account message, with proof, and only once, because repeated requests can slow things down. If normal channels fail, the CIS Ombudsman takes DHS Form 7001, but only if you contacted USCIS in the last 90 days and allowed 60 days, and not right after an expedite denial. It cannot approve a case or extend a deadline. To see what USCIS holds, request your A-file through the FIRST online system, one request per person.
What happens after a denial, and can USCIS send me to court?
Read the last page of the decision, because the route depends on the form. Many decisions use Form I-290B, generally due in 30 days, or 33 if the decision was mailed, sent to the address on the USCIS direct filing page and not to the appeals office. A denied family petition goes instead to the Board of Immigration Appeals on Form EOIR-29, as explained on our Board page. If USCIS revoked an approved petition, the deadline on either route is far shorter: 15 days from service, or 18 on the I-290B route if the notice was mailed. The Board does not hear USCIS denials of adjustment. Under memorandum PM-602-0187, USCIS will issue a Notice to Appear if you are not lawfully present when it issues an unfavorable decision, subject to narrower rules for some employment cases. So if your status has expired, speak to a lawyer before filing, and if you are later placed in proceedings, read about the first court hearing.
What changed in 2026, and what should I do about it?
First, memorandum PM-602-0199 of May 21, 2026 tells officers that adjustment of status is extraordinary discretionary relief, and that a clean record alone is not enough. Failure to follow the terms of a visa or parole, or to leave as expected, is called highly relevant, so this usually hurts people who overstayed. If you qualify, file with real evidence of your ties and hardship, and do not leave the country on your own without checking the unlawful presence bars. Second, on June 5, 2026 a federal court vacated USCIS's hold policies, including the pause on asylum decisions and the benefits freeze for nationals of 39 countries. The First Circuit's August 14, 2026 order left most of that ruling in place but lets USCIS keep re-reviewing approved benefits of listed-country nationals who entered on or after January 20, 2021. If that describes you, get advice before you file or travel. Ace Immigration prepares family and green card filings with this standard in mind.