Green Card through Asylum Paused

I read the news, I have no ideas what it means to be honest, it says temporary pause on some refugees or asylum, my personal interpretation is it targeted to certain countries, during certain time periods (Biden administration), and how long is the pause? No idea could be weeks, months , years? There is backlog anyway, so until someone from USCIS can confirm, this is pretty much a fear news try to make.

If it applies to all approved asylum applications then it’s a big problem to all of us. Let’s see.
 
After this news confirmed and talked to two lawyers, personally I think it’s not a bad idea to submit i485 as soon as possible. When the i485 sent to uscis hopefully it sits there for 1 year and then someone can actually review it. Most people seems believe the “pause” can cause delay anywhere from 6-48 months. Worst case scenario wait for 4 years.

Law hasn’t changed, door is not closed yet, but it will cause delay.
 
When
fffyyy887 said:
After this news confirmed and talked to two lawyers, personally I think it’s not a bad idea to submit i485 as soon as possible. When the i485 sent to uscis hopefully it sits there for 1 year and then someone can actually review it. Most people seems believe the “pause” can cause delay anywhere from 6-48 months. Worst case scenario wait for 4 years.

Law hasn’t changed, door is not closed yet, but it will cause delay.
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When you've got approved?

Mine approved 2 months ago and was thinking, should I apply asap or wait for at least 6 month
 
znk-nys said:
When

When you've got approved?

Mine approved 2 months ago and was thinking, should I apply asap or wait for at least 6 month
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Approved 2 weeks ago. I am working on i485 since the pause news.

Get ready medical exam, also use check don’t use credit card as payment method

That’s what I have learned so far. Because the pause means pause

I cannot think anything bad if I submit now, please advise if any
 
Will you guys wait to submit 485 or submit as scheduled? I had finished all the documents to submit my 485 when I heard the paused news.
My lawyer suggested waiting, but I can't think of any bad things except that I have to wait for a longer time than expected. I got approved for 10 months.
 
Vivienne said:
Will you guys wait to submit 485 or submit as scheduled? I had finished all the documents to submit my 485 when I heard the paused news.
My lawyer suggested waiting, but I can't think of any bad things except that I have to wait for a longer time than expected. I got approved for 10 months.
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In your case, I think it is time to submit, but in my case may be too early - I was thinking to wait at least 6 months and then submit. I hope the pause will be dropped in a couple of months.
As I understand, additional vetting will include checking of social media for some political opinions, etc. so get ready for that...
 
Vivienne said:
Will you guys wait to submit 485 or submit as scheduled? I had finished all the documents to submit my 485 when I heard the paused news.
My lawyer suggested waiting, but I can't think of any bad things except that I have to wait for a longer time than expected. I got approved for 10 months.
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Why your lawyer suggest for waiting I don’t get it?

The worst case is you got denied. And you wasted $1440 for i485 and $500 for i693
IF uscis process your i485 too soon/early that you haven’t meet 1 year requirement after your asylum approval.

BUT that’s almost impossible, there is pause, there are bunch of applications uscis haven’t finished, why wouldn’t you want to be in queue?
 
fffyyy887 said:
Why your lawyer suggest for waiting I don’t get it?

The worst case is you got denied. And you wasted $1440 for i485 and $500 for i693
IF uscis process your i485 too soon/early that you haven’t meet 1 year requirement after your asylum approval.

BUT that’s almost impossible, there is pause, there are bunch of applications uscis haven’t finished, why wouldn’t you want to be in queue?
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I might be wrong here, so feel free to correct me.

I recently saw in youtube one of the attorneys mention about the new memo that says that if your I-485 is denied you automatically get referred to immigration (deportation) court. Could that be the reason why some attorneys are asking to hold on for now?

I personally filed my I-485 in November FOUR months after my asylum grant.
So let's see what happens. Personally, I don't believe people with granted asylum or refugee status will be denied.

I just think the current administration might delay our applications by vetting/screening us AGAIN.
I've personally been in the US for almost 8 years and will reluctantly wait for my Green Card petition however long that might take.

We will pull through this guys together, most of us have waited YEARS and YEARS to get approved for asylum.
Worst case scenario is we wait longer to get our Green Cards eventually!
 
Another concern I have however is that in the lawfully app I haven't seen any new I-485 based on asylum approved in the past couple of weeks.
It might be a coincidence that no one got approved after the news or simply not everyone is posting their updates in lawfully.
 
There is delay/pause that’s a fact we all accept, we just uncertain how badly that delay will be, as I said anywhere from 6-48 months in my speculation.

That’s exactly the idea why I think I should submit i485 as soon as possible, since it’s a waiting game.

If denied you lost money not your asylee status. Uscis allow you submit your i485 early than a year. Nothing is wrong. You can ONLY be approved for green card after 1 year of asylum approval.
 
rojo said:
I recently saw in youtube one of the attorneys mention about the new memo that says that if your I-485 is denied you automatically get referred to immigration (deportation) court. Could that be the reason why some attorneys are asking to hold on for now?
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They can't deny it. The eligibility for AOS is provided by statute. Plus, the government has not announced any changes to eligibility. They have no basis to deny it. If it was denied, then you can challenge the basis of denial. That's why they are just "pausing" it; it is harder to challenge the slowness of the processing.
 
newacct said:
They can't deny it. The eligibility for AOS is provided by statute. Plus, the government has not announced any changes to eligibility. They have no basis to deny it. If it was denied, then you can challenge the basis of denial. That's why they are just "pausing" it; it is harder to challenge the slowness of the processing.
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I agree. But the pause an annoying thing, I’ve heard that people trying to get green card through marriage, the green card application got paused after interview, especially when the immigration office think the marriage it not real. So instead of denying they request more time to approve. In other words, pause the application and in that way applicant is stay in that “jail” for years.

We don’t know how bad this pause will be, but realistically I think it’s a few months. I am sure uscis want to process some applications to get the fees, right ? Money will talk, time will talk.
 
znk-nys said:
In your case, I think it is time to submit, but in my case may be too early - I was thinking to wait at least 6 months and then submit. I hope the pause will be dropped in a couple of months.
As I understand, additional vetting will include checking of social media for some political opinions, etc. so get ready for that...
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Yes, we must be careful on social media.
 

DHS to Begin Screening Aliens’ Social Media Activity for Antisemitism​

Release Date: 04/09/2025

WASHINGTON— Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity.

Consistent with President Trump’s executive orders on Combatting Anti-Semitism, Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism and Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats, DHS will enforce all relevant immigration laws to the maximum degree, to protect the homeland from extremists and terrorist aliens, including those who support antisemitic terrorism, violent antisemitic ideologies and antisemitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah aka: “the Houthis.”

“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “Sec. Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here.”

Under this guidance, USCIS will consider social media content that indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests. This guidance is effective immediately.

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news...aliens-social-media-activity-for-antisemitism
 
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