USCIS Narrows Weekend, Holiday Extensions for Certain Immigration Deadlines
NEW YORK — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will no longer extend certain immigration filing deadlines that fall on weekends or federal holidays when the deadline is tied to an eligibility cutoff, such as filing before an applicant’s 21st birthday, under policy guidance taking effect Oct. 23.
The change reverses a 2023 USCIS policy that allowed certain applicants whose deadlines fell on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday to submit their filings on the next business day. Under the new guidance, that extension will apply only when a statute, regulation or form instruction establishes a filing or response period in a specified number of days.
USCIS said the updated policy will apply to paper filings received on or after Oct. 23 and will be incorporated into Volume 1 of the USCIS Policy Manual. The agency said the revised guidance supersedes related prior guidance.
The Rules for Deadlines Measured in Days Remain Unchanged
For deadlines expressly measured in days, USCIS will continue to count calendar days, including Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays. If the final day falls on a day when USCIS does not accept paper filings, however, the deadline moves to the next business day.
For example, an applicant who receives a denial of Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, generally has 30 days to file Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, if the denial was served in person. The filing period is 33 days if the denial was served by mail.
If the final day of such a filing period falls on a weekend or federal holiday, a paper filing will be considered timely if USCIS receives it by the end of the following business day, the agency said.
USCIS cited an example involving an I-485 denial notice dated Aug. 2, 2022, that was served by mail. The 33rd day fell on Sunday, Sept. 4, followed by the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 5. In that case, USCIS said it would treat a Form I-290B received Tuesday, Sept. 6, as timely.
Age-Based Deadlines Face a Different Rule
The most significant change concerns deadlines based on substantive eligibility requirements rather than a specified number of days.
Under the new policy, USCIS will not extend a deadline merely because an applicant’s 21st birthday falls on a weekend or federal holiday. The agency specifically cited Special Immigrant Juvenile, or SIJ, petitions, for which a person generally must be younger than 21 when the petition is filed.
As a result, an applicant seeking SIJ classification whose 21st birthday falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday will not receive an additional business day to file simply because USCIS is closed for paper filings. USCIS said the next-business-day extension does not apply because the eligibility requirement is based on age, rather than a filing period stated in days.
The policy marks a return to USCIS’ interpretation before its March 2023 policy alert. Under the 2023 approach, the agency treated certain filings due before an applicant’s 21st birthday as timely if they were filed by the end of the next business day when the birthday fell on a weekend or federal holiday.
USCIS said it is rescinding that approach to return to its longstanding application of the regulatory definition of “day” and to align its policy with recent case law.
Online Filings Must Be Submitted by the Actual Deadline
The guidance also emphasizes that electronic filings are treated differently.
USCIS considers an electronic benefit request received immediately upon submission, including submissions made on weekends and federal holidays. As a result, the agency said it will not apply a next-business-day extension to electronic filings.
Applicants who file online must submit their filings by the actual deadline, even when that date falls on a weekend or federal holiday.
Applicants Face Tighter Deadlines After Oct. 23
Applicants and attorneys with filing deadlines tied to age or another substantive eligibility cutoff should not assume that a weekend or federal holiday will provide additional time after Oct. 23.
USCIS acknowledged that the reversal could affect filings planned under the 2023 policy but said the one-month advance notice was sufficient to address potential reliance on the earlier guidance.
The agency also noted that some immigration benefits, including certain asylum matters, are governed by separate regulations and procedures and may not be covered by the policy-manual guidance.