Last October 18, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started the implementation of the June 28, 2018 Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases
Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens Policy Memorandum. An NTA is a document informing an alien of the charges against him and instructs him to appear before an immigration judge for removal proceedings.
By reason of this new memorandum, denials of status-impacting applications may result to the issuance of an NTA if the alien does not depart the US. These applications include Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, among others.
The USCIS has identified the major categories of applications wherein the USCIS to issue NTAs and Referrals to ICE (RTIs), as follows:
National Security Cases,
NTA Issuance Required by Statute or Regulation,
Fraud, Misrepresentation, and Abuse of Public Benefits Cases,
Criminal Cases,
Aliens Not Lawfully Present in the United States or Subject to Other Grounds of Removability, and
Special Circumstances for NTA Issuance
In addition to the USCIS, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can also issue NTAs.
The USCIS emphasized that, at this point in time, the new NTA Policy Memorandum will not be implemented with regards to (1) employment-based petitions, and (2) humanitarian applications and petitions.