Transcription
We're going to start with the main news segment, which is the public charge, because we've been waiting for it. We knew it was coming, and now it dropped.
So, first of all, let's talk about what is public charge. In so many words, it essentially means if you are too poor and the United States will likely have to support you, you are not self-sufficient, then you don't deserve a green card.
This law has been on the books since the 1800s. Every country in the world has some versions of it. The latest version we had was from 1999, and it's been carrying all the way up to 2019. Trump 1.0 wanted to upend that entire system and say, "No, we were too lenient on the old public charge standard. Let's up it significantly." There was a lot of litigation around it. It got stopped in 2022. Biden's public charge rule came out. It was a little stricter than the 1999 version, but it is nowhere as strict as the 2019 Trump 1.0 version. And now, in 2025, the newest public charge rule just got dropped.
So, here's the statutory factors that every government officer is supposed to be reviewing. And then there's other ones, but this is based on the newest public charge rule. If you fit into these requirements, all of them, then most likely you don't have to be concerned.
So, if you are a non-immigrant, if you are trying to get your green card and you are between the ages of 18 to 61 years old, your age, you are in your quote unquote prime working years, most likely you might be okay because you will probably be working, right? And so, you'll be contributing to the economy. But let's say you're a US citizen petitioning your parent and your parent is 62, 63, 65, they've already retired, then you might be concerned.
Second thing, how's your health? If you're in prime health condition, you don't have any major disease, you don't have any major conditions where you will, you might be unable to work in the future, then you might be okay. So, your health records need to show that you will be able to continue working and there's nothing that's going to be stopping you from being able to work.
The third thing, your family condition, your family status. How many family members do you have? If you're single and you're working, okay, most likely you're not going to be a public debt. You're not going to be a public charge. But if you are applying for a green card and your whole family is following you to apply for a green card and you have a family of five, family of seven, and your income is too low, that might be a bad situation.
And and and here I want to pause a little bit and talk about the 2025 public charge rule because it doesn't just look at you anymore. The 2019 version, the 22 and 22 version, they focus mostly on you. Were you a public charge? But now they also look at your family members. If your children use public benefits, you're applying for a green card. Well, that might mean you are not able to support them.
The fourth is your financial assets. That's the most obvious one. How much do you have in your bank? How much do you have in your stocks? Do you have a retirement plan, savings? Do you have a mortgage? Do you have a house? Right? Your current financial situation. If you are rich, even if you're old, even if you have a medical condition, well, most likely you'll be fine. So, that's the fourth one. How's your family s uh your your your financial situation?
And the last one is your education and career. Maybe you don't have a lot of assets, but you're highly educated and you have a job and you have continuously have a job. Then that's most likely five. That's the statutory five things that they must look at. And so that's the most important.
But the 2019 version, the 2022 version, they start chipping away at some of the other things now. So maybe you have these five, but now USCIS, they might have the authority to still deny your case.
One of the craziest things about this new 2025 version of the public charge is that they are saying those five statutory requirements should be the minimum. Every single officer should adjudicate each case on a case-by-case basis. They should take into all things and they should be able to adjudicate. And so they're removing the bright line test. These are five bright lines. The 2022 version gave additional additional bright lines. You know, a bright line test is a clear pass or no pass, which means there has been very few denials on the public charge. All right, we're talking like double digits out of the whole year. Public charge is not a big reason to be denied.
However, this administration and the public charge, and since 2019 till now, they really looked at it and say, "No, it shouldn't be." There's a lot of people who got green cards who they think are a public charge. They think they are a leech on society. They think they are drawing benefits as opposed to contributing to the economy. And so they think that number should be far higher. So this new memo takes away the bright line policy that we've had for decades where we can clearly see this person qualifies, this person does not qualify, and the denial rates have been very low. Now, going into the future, next year, next 10 years, we are going to see a lot more of these.
So here's additional factors that they're now looking into. Have you used any government subsidies? And so all the debate that you're going to see online between the 2019 version, the 22 version, and 2025 version is over the details of it. How long did you use it for? Was it 19 months? Was it, you know, 36 months? Are you proven that you're dependent on government subsidies? Is it a federal or is it a state? Is it a local institution that's giving it out of the goodness of their heart? Is it a cash benefit program or is it a not cash benefit program? You're going to see all the debate around that.
Here's the main thing. The 2025 version says that the officer can look holistically at everything. Even if it's quote unquote allowed, they'll still see that as, "Huh, how can your children and you use all these different government programs? Well, that kind of tells us that you're not wealthy enough to be in the country to get a green card."
This area of law is changing by the day. It is, it is because it's a case-by-case basis. What that's going to mean is going to be each different field office. New York is going to adjudicate it completely differently than Texas, then Oregon, then California. When you remove the bright line test and you say everything is case by case, that means every officer is going to do it their own way. This was the policy pre-2019. Okay. What is it? 140 pages in big font with samples. Easy peasy. Not an issue. Once 2019 came out, this is their version. Okay. How many pages? Over 500 pages dissecting the 2019 memo under Trump 1.0. Now, this is the law that came out yesterday talking about the new memo that they plan on releasing. The next IRC book that's going to come out addressing it is probably going to be like 800 pages, you know, and so it is complicated. It is difficult.
If you haven't been able to hold down a job, do that because not being able to hold down a job and switching between jobs constantly and being able to work but not working is a big negative factor in the new policy. Having joint sponsors, right? So maybe you never had to think about a joint sponsor because everything we said earlier, because you're maybe on the employment status side. Well, maybe consider, "Can I find a joint sponsor? Somebody who can guarantee that I will not be indebted. I will not collect food stamps." And now, getting rid of the bright line, even if you have a joint sponsor, might not be sufficient. Well, then get two joint sponsors. We've done cases where we had three joint sponsors, right? So, it's a lot of work, obviously, but getting more joint sponsors, getting a job, starting a company, even if the company's not doing well, at least you show your ambition, right? So, um, there's a lot of things that you can do. Be a part of a nonprofit, get your expenses covered, have health insurance. These are all things that will really help. And you might be saying, "Easy for you to say, right?" Look large and and spread wide to really figure out what maybe what nonprofit that you can work in, and maybe they can help with some of the basic health insurance.
So that's the new public charge rule that I have been doing a lot of consultations on right when this came out. A lot of questions, and I just want to consolidate everything, share it. We're going to find out new information out there. It's got, it's really confusing, but I hope this helps.