If you are in the middle of a family-based green card adjustment of status case and you were planning to mail your application today or have already mailed it, stop and read this immediately. USCIS updated Form I-864, the Affidavit of Support, on August 31st, 2026, without any advance notice, without any grace period, and without any fanfare. Effective today, the old version of the form is no longer accepted. Cases submitted with the prior version will be rejected, and in some situations the filing fee may be taken before the denial is issued, making the situation significantly more costly.
What changed on August 31st and why does it matter?
USCIS has a history of updating immigration forms and providing a grace period during which both the old and new versions are accepted. This gives applicants, attorneys, and law firms time to update their processes, review the new form, and ensure that submissions going out are compliant with the new requirements. That is standard practice and it gives the system time to absorb a change without creating a wave of rejected applications from people who had no way of knowing the form had changed.
That did not happen here. The form was updated on August 31st with no advance notice and no grace period. Anyone who submitted their case today using the prior version of Form I-864 will have their application rejected based on using an outdated form. For many applicants this creates real financial harm because filing fees may be processed before the rejection is identified, and the cost of refiling adds to an already expensive process.
This is not the first time USCIS has made a form change that created disruption. But the combination of no notice, no grace period, and an updated form that introduces a significant new requirement makes this change particularly impactful for a large number of people.
What is the new credit report requirement?
This is the change that will create ongoing complications well beyond the immediate confusion of the form update. The new Form I-864 includes a credit report requirement. The sponsoring individual, the person signing the Affidavit of Support to financially sponsor the immigrant, is now required to provide a copy of their credit report as part of the submission.
This requirement adds a new layer of documentation to what is already one of the more demanding components of the adjustment of status package. Credit reports must be current, must be from an acceptable source, and must reflect the financial picture of the sponsor accurately.
What is the credit freeze problem and who does it affect?
Here is where the new requirement creates an immediate and unexpected complication for a significant number of sponsors. Many people in the United States have placed security freezes on their credit files with the major credit reporting agencies. Credit freezes are a widely recommended consumer protection measure that prevents new credit from being opened in your name without your explicit authorization. They are commonly used as protection against identity theft and fraud, and financial advisors regularly encourage people to implement them.
When a credit freeze is in place, it prevents anyone, including the government, from accessing your credit report without your prior authorization to lift the freeze. If a sponsor has a credit freeze in place and submits their Affidavit of Support without first addressing it, the government’s ability to access the credit report will be blocked. According to the new requirement, this can result in the rejection or denial of the case.
USCIS is essentially requiring sponsors who have credit freezes to lift or temporarily remove those freezes so that the credit report can be accessed as part of the Affidavit of Support review. This requires the sponsor to contact each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, to temporarily lift or permanently remove the freeze before submitting the application.
How do you know if you have a credit freeze and how do you remove it?
If you are not certain whether you have a credit freeze in place, you can check by contacting each of the three major credit reporting agencies directly. Each agency maintains its own freeze system independently, so a freeze with one does not automatically mean a freeze with all three, and a lift with one does not lift the others.
To lift or temporarily thaw a credit freeze you will need to contact each agency through their respective websites or customer service lines. The process typically requires verifying your identity and specifying whether you want to permanently remove the freeze or temporarily lift it for a specific period. A temporary lift allows the freeze to reinstate automatically after a set number of days, which may be preferable for people who want to maintain the protection after their immigration case is processed.
The timeline for lifting a freeze varies by agency and by method of contact but is generally completed within a few days when done online. Given that cases need to be filed promptly and that the new requirement is already in effect, sponsors who have freezes in place should address this immediately.
What should you do right now?
If you were planning to submit an adjustment of status case in the near future, do not use the old version of Form I-864. Download the new version directly from the USCIS website, confirm it is the version dated August 31st, 2026, or later, and complete it from scratch.
If you submitted a case today using the prior version, contact your immigration attorney immediately to assess the status of your application and what steps can be taken to address the rejection.
If you are a sponsor, check whether you have credit freezes in place with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion and take steps to lift or remove them before your case is submitted.
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