USCIS online filing rule: What it means for Indian green card, citizenship applicants
The United States will soon require applicants to file green card, citizenship and asylum applications online. (File Photo)The US is moving toward mandatory online filing for a range of immigration applications, including green cards, citizenship and asylum, under a new USCIS rule. But applicants will not have to switch all filings online immediately: USCIS must give 60 days’ notice before making a particular form mandatory online.
What exactly is changing?
Under a new rule from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), published in the Federal Register on August 11, 2026, any form that has been available for online filing for at least 180 days will now have to be submitted that way. The rule also lets USCIS make additional forms online-only in future, as long as it gives 60 days’ notice first.
The change is expected to touch a wide range of applications, including green card requests and renewals, family-based petitions, citizenship filings, asylum claims, work authorisation applications and Temporary Protected Status filings.
The rule itself takes effect on publication, but individual forms will become subject to mandatory online filing only after USCIS announces the requirement and gives applicants 60 days to comply.
How will people apply?
Most applicants will need to file through a USCIS online account. They can either fill out the form directly online or upload a completed PDF version along with supporting documents.
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USCIS said the move is meant to help the agency move away from paper-based processing and reduce its dependence on the Treasury Department’s lockbox service, which currently handles mailed applications.
Why is USCIS making this change?
The agency said filing online would cut down on errors, speed up processing and make it easier to detect fraud, since digital records are simpler to access and review than paper files.
The scale of the current paper system is large. In the 2025 financial year, USCIS processed more than 14 million benefit requests, while its lockbox facilities handled about 453 million pages of paper submissions. The agency spent roughly $396 million running its lockbox intake system, and more than $10 million on postage alone.
The Department of Homeland Security said requiring online filing would reduce costs linked to manual handling, data entry, shipping, storage and scanning, while also making case processing faster.
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Applicants who are unable to file online can apply for an exemption using a separate form. USCIS will review these requests case by case before deciding whether to grant a waiver. People who face undue hardship from electronic filing can seek a waiver; the rule creates a new form and fee for requesting that waiver, with a separate fee-waiver mechanism in certain cases.
How does this affect Indian applicants?
Indians are among the largest groups affected by this rule. India has one of the biggest backlogs of employment-based green card applicants in the US, many of them on H-1B visas, and a large number of Indian nationals also file for family-based green cards, citizenship and Temporary Protected Status extensions each year.
For most Indian applicants who already use immigration lawyers or online portals, the shift to mandatory e-filing is likely to be a smaller change. But it could pose problems for elderly parents applying for green cards through family sponsorship, or for applicants in rural areas with limited internet access, who may need to rely on the exemption process.
USCIS has not announced a start date for enforcement, so applicants with pending or upcoming filings should watch for updates on which forms move to mandatory online filing first.
(With inputs from PTI)
