U.S. Immigration Alerts

U.S. and Global Immigration Update – Week of August 25, 2025

USCIS issues Policy Memorandum on ‘good moral character’ standard for naturalization applicants

• On August 15, 2025, the USCIS issued a Policy Memorandum (PM-602-0188) on ‘Restoring a Rigorous, Holistic, and Comprehensive Good Moral Character Evaluation Standards for Aliens Applying for Naturalization.
• The memo indicates that this move is a “return to a comprehensive, totality of the circumstances approach”, moving beyond a checklist of statutory disqualifiers and requiring consideration of both positive contributions and negative conduct.
• The memorandum emphasizes that naturalization is not only a legal benefit but a profound civic transformation that requires demonstrating allegiance and character.
• Under the current framework there are existing, unconditional bars to naturalization (e.g., murder, aggravated felonies, torture, genocide), but the memo also refers to the requirement that the foreign national exhibit good moral character.  In the past the good moral character requirement was used as a bar in some cases where the applicants had other types of criminal issues, such as controlled substance violations, multiple DUIs, or false claims to U.S. citizenship.
• The memo asserts that the good moral character standard is a “catch-all clause” that must be used to assess each applicant’s positive attributes, not merely disprove the negative attributes. This broader reading of the good moral character requirement allows USCIS to deny  naturalization even if no enumerated offense applies, requiring case-by-case analysis under the preponderance of the evidence standard.

Implementation:

• Totality of Circumstances Approach: Officers must weigh both adverse and favorable evidence to determine GMC.
• Positive Attributes and Contributions: Consider sustained community involvement, family responsibilities, education, employment history, long-term lawful residence, financial and tax compliance, and other civic contributions.
• Disqualifying Conduct: Scrutinize permanent bars, conditional bars, and other acts inconsistent with the moral standards of average U.S. citizens, even if technically lawful (e.g., repeated reckless conduct).
• Rehabilitation and Reformation: Evidence of genuine rehabilitation may support GMC findings, including repayment of debts, compliance with probation, community testimony, mentoring, or other corrective actions.
• Case Law Alignment: Courts have affirmed the need to balance both positive and negative factors (e.g., Hussein v. Barrett, Matter of Castillo-Perez), reinforcing that GMC is not merely the absence of misconduct but an affirmative demonstration of good character.

The memo concludes: “This approach will empower USCIS officers to review the complete history of aliens seeking naturalization, where no regulatory or statutory bars exist, and require such aliens to present their full story, demonstrating how their life aligns with a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the current ethical standards and expectations of the community in which they reside.”

This approach will increase the burden on applicants to prove that they meet a subjective “good moral character” standard, as defined by the officer reviewing the application.  

The Policy Manual is available at www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-alerts/08.15.2025-Restoring_a_Good_Moral_Character_Evaluation_Standard_for_Aliens_Applying_for_Naturalization-Policy_Memorandum_FINAL.pdf

Trump Administration reviewing all US visa holders for possible violations

• According to reports, the Trump administration is reviewing the visas of more than 55 million people for any violations that would qualify them for deportation. 
• The Department of State said that all U.S. visa holders will be subject to “continuous vetting” for indications of ineligibility to enter or stay in the United States. This may include people currently outside of the United States who have multiple-entry tourist visas.
• The heightened scrutiny will include reviews of social media accounts and law enforcement and immigration records in visa holders’ home countries.

SOURCE: www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/trump-administration-is-reviewing-all-55-million-foreigners-with-us-visas-in-growing-crackdown/ar-AA1KYuNN?ocid=BingNewsSerp

USCIS to consider anti-Americanism in immigrant benefit requests

• USCIS has updated the Policy Manual to guide officers on how to exercise discretion in immigration benefit requests.
• Officers must consider factors such as past parole requests, compliance with immigration laws, and whether applications were filed in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Involvement in terrorist organizations, support for anti-American ideologies, or promotion of antisemitic ideologies or terrorism will weigh heavily against a favorable discretionary decision.
• USCIS has expanded social media vetting for more types of benefit requests, and evidence of anti-American activity found through vetting will be treated as an overwhelmingly negative factor.
• The updated guidance also clarifies how discretion should be applied to EB-5 investor petitions in cases involving threats to national interest, fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, or criminal misuse.
• This new guidance is contained in Volume 1 of the USCIS Policy Manual, is effective immediately, applies to pending and future requests, and supersedes all prior related guidance.

SOURCE: USCIS Newsroom, August 19, 2025: www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-to-consider-anti-americanism-in-immigrant-benefit-requests

OFLC releases public disclosure data and selected program statistics for FY 2025 (Q3)

• On August 15, 2025, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) released public disclosure data and selected program statistics for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.
• The disclosure data covers employer applications requesting prevailing wage determinations and labor certifications for the PERM, LCA (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3), H-2A, H-2B, CW-1, and Prevailing Wage programs.
• Due to the recent implementation of the revised ETA-9089 form, OFLC has issued two separate PERM disclosure data files, each with its own record layout documentation.
• The public disclosure files include all final determinations issued by OFLC during the reporting period from October 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
• Alongside these disclosure files, OFLC has also published selected program statistics for the first half of fiscal year 2025, providing detailed descriptions of available data elements and highlighting key program information.

SOURCE: US Department of Labor Newsroom, August 15, 2025: www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/news

Most FY 2025 employment-based limits could be reached in August or September

• The Department of State’s (DOS) Visa Bulletin for September notes a “steady increase” in both U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and DOS demand patterns for employment-based green cards. 
• As a result, the bulletin says that the Visa Office expects to reach fiscal year (FY) 2025 category limits in most employment-based preference categories during August and September. 
• “If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category ‘unavailable,’ and no further requests for numbers would be honored,” DOS warns.
• The bulletin also notes that the worldwide employment-based preference numerical limit for FY 2025 is 150,037.

Department of State releases Visa Office Report for 2024

• The Department of State (DOS) has released its Report of the Visa Office for 2024.
• DOS noted that the Visa Office changed its methodology for calculating visa data beginning with the FY 2019 annual visa office report “to reflect the greater access to application-level data attained during FY 2019.”
• Also, the report notes that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, posts were instructed to suspend routine visa services and provide only mission-critical and emergency services in late March 2020. “This had a significant impact on the provision of Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Visa-related services. Posts were only able to resume limited services on a post-by-post basis beginning in July 2020, as local conditions allowed,” the report notes in Table I, Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Visas Issued at Foreign Service Posts, Fiscal Years 2020-2024.

SOURCE: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/annual-reports/report-of-the-visa-office-2024.html

The content of this article is intended only to provide a general guide to the subject matter. It should not be construed as legal advice. Please contact FGI at info@employmentimmigration.com or (+1) 248.643.4900 for guidance if you have specific questions.