Much of what decides an immigration application is not in the statute or the regulations but in agency guidance: the USCIS Policy Manual, policy alerts and numbered policy memoranda. That guidance binds the officers who apply it. It is not law, and when it changes the rules in ways the law does not allow, it can be challenged in court.

Quick Facts

  • Forms of guidance: the USCIS Policy Manual, policy alerts, policy memoranda
  • Binds: agency officers; does not bind: courts
  • Notice and comment: not required for interpretive rules and policy statements (5 U.S.C. § 553(b)(A))
  • Challenge: APA review if the guidance is final agency action

What the guidance is

The USCIS Policy Manual is the agency’s centralized statement of immigration policy, organized by subject and updated through policy alerts. Policy memoranda, often identified by a “PM” number, announce or change policy on specific questions. Both tell officers how to apply the statute and regulations, and officers are expected to follow them.

Why it does not need notice and comment, usually

The APA exempts “interpretative rules, general statements of policy, or rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice” from notice-and-comment rulemaking (5 U.S.C. § 553(b)(A)), and an agency may change an interpretive rule without notice and comment (Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Ass’n, 575 U.S. 92 (2015)). The trade-off is that such guidance lacks the force of law. It cannot add requirements the statute and regulations do not impose, and courts do not defer to it on what a statute means (Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024)).

How guidance is challenged

  • As a rule in disguise. Guidance that binds the agency and the public in a way only a legislative rule can may be set aside for skipping notice and comment.
  • As arbitrary and capricious. A policy change must be reasoned. The memorandum rescinding DACA was set aside because the agency failed to consider important aspects of the problem, including reliance interests (DHS v. Regents of the University of California, 591 U.S. 1 (2020)).
  • As contrary to law. Guidance that conflicts with the statute or the agency’s own regulations is unlawful.
  • In an individual case. A denial resting on guidance can be challenged on the ground that the guidance misstates the law, through the administrative appeal and, where review is available, in court.

A 2026 example: policy memorandum PM-602-0193 of December 19, 2025 directed USCIS to place all pending diversity-visa adjustment applications on hold. A federal court held the hold unlawful under the APA because the agency did not reasonably explain its categorical scope, and ordered adjudication to resume for the plaintiffs (Ivanov v. Trump, No. 26-cv-915 (D.D.C. Aug. 25, 2026)).

Where to find it

The Policy Manual and current policy alerts are published on uscis.gov. Superseded guidance matters too: a case is generally decided under the policy in effect when it is adjudicated, so the date of a change can decide the outcome.

Sources

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