Last updated: March 27, 2026

In late 2025, the government issued a proposed rule that it intends to rescind the 2022 rule that currently guides public charge inadmissibility determinations in cases decided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This is just a proposed rule and is not in effect. The 2022 rule remains good law and current policy. Under the 2022 rule many programs do not raise public charge concerns, including: health care programs like Medicaid and COVID care, housing, nutrition programs, and many other vital services. Only applicants deemed likely to become primarily dependent on cash aid for income maintenance or long-term care at government expense could be denied for public charge.

The public charge test only applies to some programs and some immigrants. Regardless of whether the current rule is rescinded in the future, these points about public charge remain true and cannot be changed by regulation:

• It never applies to U.S. citizens, including the U.S. citizen children of immigrants.
• It also doesn’t apply to most people with a green card, or asylees, refugees, people with U visas, T visas, VAWA, and many others.

Additionally, changes to public charge immigration policy never alter immigrant eligibility for public benefits. Public charge decisions happen when someone applies for their green card or to immigrate to the United States.

Consular processing warning: Those who will be leaving the United States to apply for their green cards abroad, at a U.S. consulate or embassy, should be aware that the Department of State has already issued new guidance that will likely expand the number of individuals who are denied a visa for public charge. If you will be leaving the United States to consular process, check in with a trusted advocate before leaving the country. To find free or low-cost immigration legal advice, go to ilrc.me/gethelp. 

Additionally, in early 2026 the Department of State announced a pause on visa issuance for individuals from 75 countries (full list below) based on purported public charge concerns that went into effect on January 21, 2026. The pause (referred to by some as a “travel ban”) does not involve an individualized assessment, but rather a blanket ban on individuals from these countries based on the government’s view that people from these countries are at “high risk” of becoming a public charge. Applicants for a green card who are consular processing abroad and who are from one of the affected countries may still be interviewed at the consulate but will not be issued a visa while the ban remains in effect. This visa ban does not apply to those who are applying for green cards at USCIS within the United States, it only applies to those who are applying for a green card and will attend their green card interview at a U.S. consulate or embassy abroad. A lawsuit is currently pending, challenging this visa ban, CLINIC et al. v. Rubio et al. For more updates on the lawsuit, filed by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and others, see NILC’s page here.

List of countries affected by this visa ban: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.