USCIS adjustments immigration picture guidelines, limits reuse to three years

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies has tightened guidelines on the usage of pictures in immigration functions.

Thus, ending the reuse of older photographs and eliminating self-submitted pictures to strengthen id verification.

Beneath the brand new coverage, USCIS will not reuse pictures taken greater than three years in the past.

This sharply reduces a earlier allowance that permitted picture reuse for as much as a decade. The company has additionally stopped accepting pictures uploaded instantly by candidates.

Requiring as an alternative that photographs be captured by USCIS or approved biometric service suppliers.

What USCIS is saying 

USCIS stated the change displays issues that older pictures not reliably signify candidates’ present look. Thus, complicating id verification and fraud prevention. Officers famous that bodily options can change considerably over time, significantly throughout lengthy immigration timelines.

The coverage marks a transparent departure from practices adopted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, when USCIS relaxed biometric necessities to scale back in-person appointments.

Throughout that interval, some candidates have been permitted to depend on pictures taken a few years earlier, sometimes greater than 20 years outdated.

Following the pandemic, the company initially restricted picture reuse to 10 years. That window has now been diminished to 36 months.

Additionally, USCIS will not settle for pictures submitted instantly by candidates. All photographs should now be taken by USCIS or permitted companions throughout biometric providers appointments.

The company stated the change is meant to scale back the danger of id theft, picture manipulation, and misuse of outdated or altered photographs.

Context 

Beneath the up to date coverage, USCIS could reuse an current {photograph} provided that it was taken throughout the previous 36 months at a biometric providers appointment. The rule applies primarily to immigration profit requests that don’t in any other case require new biometrics.

Even then, the company retains full discretion to request a brand new {photograph} each time it deems it needed.

Sure kinds will proceed to require recent biometric assortment, together with new pictures. These embody:

• Software for Naturalization (Kind N-400)
• Software for Certificates of Citizenship (Kind N-600)
• Software to Exchange Everlasting Resident Card (Kind I-90)
• Software to Register Everlasting Residence or Regulate Standing (Kind I-485)
• For these functions, candidates ought to count on to offer new pictures no matter prior submissions.

What it’s best to know 

Candidates ought to not assume that USCIS will depend on pictures already on file. Even in instances the place biometrics have been beforehand waived, new appointments could now be required.

• The revised picture coverage follows a collection of administrative adjustments that sign a broader tightening of the U.S. immigration system.
• USCIS had earlier introduced that new immigration submitting charges will take impact from January 1, 2026, following an annual inflation adjustment mandated beneath H.R. 1.
• The payment replace displays inflation recorded between July 2024 and July 2025 and is a part of a statutory requirement that the Division of Homeland Safety revise sure immigration charges at first of every fiscal yr.

On the similar time, USCIS proposed extra measures geared toward strengthening safety screening, together with a rule that may require candidates for inexperienced playing cards and visas to disclose their social media handles.