A policy alert is USCIS guidance to its own officers, not a regulation. It governs how USCIS adjudicates, and it can be revised or withdrawn without rulemaking.
What the document says
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual on qualifying spousal relationships for purposes of family-based immigrant visa petitions under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Who the document names
The document does not name specific countries or visa categories in its scope language. Read the original to confirm whether it applies to a particular case.
Related changes
Agency updatePublished Aug 1, 2025
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to explain requirements associated with the screening, vetting, and adjudication of family-based immigrant visa petitions to include eligibility criteria, filing, interviews, and decisions.
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- Source
- USCIS Policy Manual, checked Aug 2, 2026
- Review
- Classified automatically; not reviewed by a person
- The updates page does not publish an effective date. Where the guidance states one, it is in the linked document. This event does not assert an effective date it cannot cite.
- Affected Policy Manual sections, as listed by USCIS: 6 USCIS-PM B.6 (Immigrants).
Built from the linked government document by published rules, not by a language model. Information about a published document, not legal advice about anyone’s case. Methodology · Permalink