NPR national politics reporter Ximena Bustillo, writing for Oregon Public Broadcasting on July 6, details a quiet policy change that requires nearly all marriage-based green-card applicants to attend second-tier fraud interviews, even when initial evidence is deemed “strong.” Officers must now run additional social-media vetting and INTERPOL screens before issuing conditional residency. USCIS sources say the directive, issued late June, stems from a White House memo citing a 14 % rise in sham-marriage indictments. Processing times for Form I-485 have already ticked up by two months in Dallas and Newark service centers, according to AILA trackers. The policy also eliminates “prior approval” waivers for spouses returning from overseas assignments under the Returning Resident (SB-1) process, a setback for global employers that rotate U.S. citizens abroad. Corporate mobility teams should alert employees planning summer weddings abroad that re-entry documents may take longer and that advance parole may be advisable. Immigration lawyers predict higher RFEs for evidence of commingled finances and joint leases, and warn that travel while a case is pending could trigger abandonment under the stricter rules.
Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting (NPR)
