This is an update to an announcement we discussed earlier at: USCIS ANNOUNCES ELIMINATION OF “BLANK SPACE” CRITERIA – Ahluwalia Law. Today’s update is as a result of the Settlement Agreement of class action litigation in Vangala v. USCIS (also known as the “No Blank Space Rejection Policy” case). As a result of this settlement, the Government will be accepting the original submission date as the filing date for more than 60,000 applicants who had been rejected which consists of 43,500 asylum applications and 17,000 petitions of U visa.
Individuals who were previously rejected under the former policy can resubmit their request on or before July 20, 2022 so as to receive an updated receipt that reflects the date their rejected application was originally filed. The USCIS will also be notifying affected individuals who may benefit from the new settlement. Applicants are encouraged to review the settlement agreement for nuances involving specific information regarding resubmission of the applications available at show_multidocs.pl (uscis.gov).
Previously, the USCIS made capricious amounts of rejections based on questions left blank or answers not using specific terminology. Such questions were basically ones that were not relevant to an Applicant’s ineligibility.
We will regularly update the blog as soon as any new information is available.
Disclaimer
This article, under no circumstances, acts as legal advice; therefore, for any immigration questions, please contact your Attorney or the Ahluwalia Law Offices, P.C. (Team ALO).
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