US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual instructing officers to give deference to prior determinations when adjudicating extension requests involving the same parties and facts unless there was a material error, material change, or new material facts.  With this update, USCIS is reverting in substance to prior long-standing guidance issued in 2004, which directed officers to generally defer to prior determinations of eligibility when adjudicating extension requests involving the same parties and facts as the initial petition or application. In 2017, USCIS rescinded the 2004 guidance that had imposed a standard of “de novo” review for all filings, including extensions or amendments of previously-approved nonimmigrant visa petitions.

The newly-restored policy clarifies that USCIS will gives deference to its “prior determinations when adjudicating extension requests involving the same parties and facts unless there was a material error, material change in circumstances or in eligibility, or new material information that adversely impacts the petitioner’s, applicant’s, or beneficiary’s eligibility.”  In cases where other government agencies have made previous eligibility determinations, USCIS will consider, but not defer, to those determinations.

The agency reports that this update is in accordance with President Biden’s executive order, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans, which directs the secretary of homeland security to identify barriers that impede access to immigration benefits and fair, efficient adjudications of these benefits.