- USCIS is conducting a comprehensive re-review of immigration benefits granted to nationals from 39 high-risk countries.
- The review targets Green Cards approved since January 20, 2021, to ensure eligibility and security standards.
- Affected individuals may face new interviews, enhanced vetting, or potential removal proceedings if fraud is detected.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security have begun a comprehensive re-review of immigration benefits, including Green Cards granted during the Biden administration, for people from 39 designated high-risk countries whose status was approved on or after January 20, 2021.
The review, confirmed in policy updates current as of April 21, 2026, reaches beyond pending cases and into already approved benefits. It covers Lawful Permanent Residents and other benefit recipients from countries identified in Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998.
Officials have framed the effort as a security and fraud screening measure, not an automatic cancellation of status. USCIS describes it as an individualized re-review that can include new vetting checks, new interviews and fresh scrutiny of whether a person remained eligible after approval.
A USCIS memorandum dated January 1, 2026, Policy Memorandum PM-602-0194, directed agency staff to conduct a “comprehensive re-review of approved benefit requests” for nationals of high-risk countries whose cases were approved on or after January 20, 2021.
That memo, titled “Hold and Review of USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from Additional High-Risk Countries,” said: “To faithfully uphold United States immigration law, the flow of aliens from countries with high overstay rates, significant fraud, or both must stop. . USCIS will conduct a thorough review on a case-by-case basis to assess benefit eligibility.”
An earlier directive, Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192, issued on December 2, 2025, first imposed an adjudicative hold on pending applications and launched the re-review for the first 19 high-risk countries. The later memorandum expanded the effort to additional countries and to approved benefits.
Secretary Kristi Noem widened the public scope of the policy on February 24, 2026. Following a security incident involving an Afghan national, Noem “implemented a full-scale reexamination of every green card for aliens from every presidentially designated high-risk country.”
The countries named in the policy include Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, among others. DHS and USCIS tie the designation to the two presidential proclamations rather than to a single immigration category.
People affected by the review are not limited to new arrivals. The policy reaches those who already received permanent residence or another immigration benefit after January 20, 2021, the date that marks the start of the Biden administration and the period now under reexamination.
USCIS has said the process will not operate as a blanket revocation. Officers must conduct an individualized review of each case, and the agency has described the screening as case by case.
That review includes enhanced vetting through cross-checks against expanded national security and criminal databases. USCIS officers may also call people back for new interviews to re-verify eligibility and, in the agency’s words, “root out fraud.”
One of the sharpest changes lies in the evidentiary standard the government now expects applicants and residents to meet. The policy shifts the burden to the individual to show that he or she maintained an intent to reside permanently in the United States, with travel history receiving close attention.
Frequent travel can draw scrutiny under that standard. A person with repeated trips abroad, or long periods outside the country, may need to show that permanent residence in the United States remained the central intent throughout that period.
The policy also reaches new applications. USCIS has placed new adjustment of status filings under Form I-485 and other benefit requests from nationals of these 39 countries on an indefinite adjudicative hold while reviews continue.
That hold marks a break with past practice described by the agency itself. Approved Green Cards were rarely revisited under prior administrations unless new evidence surfaced of fraud or criminal activity after approval.
The current administration has explicitly rejected that approach. In a USCIS update dated March 30, 2026, the agency said “prior screening and vetting measures were wholly inadequate,” and said that failures in that system led to approvals for people who “should not have been naturalized” or granted residence.
That language captures the administration’s broader case for reopening past approvals. It argues that earlier adjudications did not screen rigorously enough and that files approved during the Biden administration now require fresh review.
The immigration consequences extend beyond USCIS case files. As of April 2026, Customs and Border Protection has adopted a “new enforcement framework” at ports of entry that can subject returning Green Card holders to deeper screening if they trigger specified criteria.
Those criteria include travel to high-risk countries and cumulative time spent outside the United States. A returning permanent resident who triggers them can be sent to secondary inspection and, in some cases, placed into removal proceedings.
That raises the stakes for Green Card holders from the designated countries who travel abroad while the review remains active. Reentry to the United States no longer turns only on possession of a valid card; it can also trigger a fresh examination of whether the person still qualifies to keep it.
If USCIS or DHS concludes that a Green Card was issued erroneously or obtained through misrepresentation, the government can issue a Notice to Appear (NTA). That document places the person in immigration court to defend lawful status before a judge.
The combination of adjudicative holds, reopened screening and port-of-entry enforcement makes this policy broader than a routine anti-fraud review. It affects both people seeking status now and people who already received it during the period under review.
Nationals of the 39 designated high-risk countries sit at the center of that effort, but the mechanics differ from case to case. Some face delayed decisions on pending filings, some may be called back for interviews, and some Green Card holders returning from travel may encounter secondary inspection before they can enter.
USCIS and DHS have not described the review as time-limited. The adjudicative hold on new filings from the affected countries remains indefinite while the agencies continue the reviews.
People tracking the policy can find the underlying agency actions in the USCIS and DHS materials that announced them, including [USCIS Newsroom – All News](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/all-news), [DHS Press Releases](https://www.dhs.gov/newsroom/press-releases), and the [USCIS Policy Manual – General Policies and Procedures](https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual).
The result is a rare federal effort to revisit already approved immigration benefits on a wide scale, centered on Green Cards issued during the Biden administration to nationals from designated high-risk countries. Whether that re-review ends in confirmation of status, new interviews, removal proceedings or prolonged delay will turn on the individualized file-by-file process now underway.
