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Hours before two widely used USCIS forms were set to switch editions on September 15, a Massachusetts judge halted the underlying visa rule, so the older paperwork is still the correct paperwork.
- USCIS's own site now says it is honoring that order: the printed-and-ready 09/15/26 editions of Form I-539 and Form I-765 exist, but the agency is not taking them yet.
- A third form, I-485 for green-card adjustment, was never part of this fight — its own edition swap lands Friday, September 18, over an unrelated "public charge" policy shift.
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Government lawyers are widely expected to fight the block on appeal, so nothing here should be treated as locked in for long.
Overnight, a Deadline Got Postponed
Two forms were supposed to become obsolete at midnight on September 15: Form I-539, used to extend or switch a nonimmigrant category, and Form I-765, the work-permit application. Instead, on the afternoon of September 14, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor issued a nationwide order stopping the Department of Homeland Security from putting a much bigger regulation into motion — one ending "duration of status," the open-ended admission window that has let F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors and I-classified foreign journalists stay as long as they kept up their program, rather than until a fixed calendar date. DHS had published that policy in the Federal Register on July 17, describing four-year caps for students and scholars and a far shorter 240-day window for media representatives.
Because the two forms only needed new editions to match that four-year framework, freezing the framework froze the paperwork switch along with it. Practically speaking, immigration lawyers point out that USCIS doesn't soften a missed edition swap with a follow-up request for missing paperwork; it simply returns the entire filing, untouched, as though it had arrived empty.
So Which Edition Belongs in the Envelope
The lawsuit behind the pause came from a coalition led by NAFSA and the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, filed August 18 alongside several universities and unions, which argued the administration hadn't properly weighed how disruptive the switch would be. Once the case reached Judge Saylor's courtroom in Boston, the timing worked in the plaintiffs' favor — the ruling landed roughly a day before the rule was due to bite.
Miriam Feldblum, who leads the Presidents' Alliance, called it a decision worth applauding: "We welcome the court's decision to block the rule from taking effect."
Following that order, USCIS updated its guidance for Form I-765 to spell out exactly what filers should do: keep using the 08/28/24 edition of Form I-539 and the 08/21/25 edition of Form I-765, since the newer 09/15/26 paperwork isn't being accepted for now. That instruction reaches a wide mix of people — anyone extending or switching nonimmigrant status, plus employment-authorization filers that range from F-1 students wrapping up Optional Practical Training to H-4 spouses of H-1B workers.
DHS had already conceded, inside its own rule, that the policy might push some students to study elsewhere, while adding that it couldn't put a number on the risk. That admission looks less abstract next to reports from several campuses, which told federal officials over the summer that prospective students were already pulling out of admitted classes and citing the looming rule as a reason. None of that changes with the injunction, and neither does the expectation among immigration attorneys that DHS will move fast to appeal — which is exactly why this week's form guidance carries an expiration-date feel of its own.
Meanwhile, the Green-Card Form Never Got the Memo
None of the above touches Form I-485, the application tied to adjusting status to a green card. USCIS is retiring its 01/20/25 edition on Friday regardless of what happens with the injunction, because that swap flows from a separate DHS action: rescinding the Biden-era "public charge" regulation, a move published in the Federal Register on July 20 that hands officers back a wider, case-by-case lens for judging whether an applicant might lean on public benefits. Unlike the student-visa rule, no judge has paused this one, though a handful of states and advocacy groups have already gone to court trying to change that.
The practical split: an I-485 package that lands before Friday still gets measured against the narrower 2022 standard; anything filed Friday or later needs the fresh edition and answers to the broader public-charge questions.
A Second New I-485 Edition Is Already in Circulation
Adding to the potential mix-up, USCIS separately rolled out yet another interim I-485 edition back on September 4 — this one tied to a much narrower policy letting some U.S.-born children of foreign government employees register for green cards under an earlier executive order. That policy is boxed in by its own, unrelated court fight in Maryland, Casa Inc. v. Trump, which stops DHS from applying it to a certified group of plaintiffs in that case. The takeaway for everyone else: don't confuse the narrow 09/04/26 edition with the far more consequential 09/18/26 version tied to public charge.
Three Things to Check Before Filing
- Match the printed edition date at the bottom of the form's last page against what each form's own USCIS webpage currently lists — a saved PDF from a few weeks back isn't proof of anything.
- If a single mailing bundles more than one form, check every form's edition separately; USCIS treats one outdated page as grounds to bounce the whole package.
- Assume this guidance has a shelf life. With an appeal likely and the underlying case still open, the rules could look different by the time your envelope arrives.
