A green card offers the opportunity to build a stable future in the United States, but the process does not always move as smoothly as applicants expect. Many families and workers assume that once their petition is approved, the final step is simply waiting, only to encounter unexpected delays caused by a green card pause […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has dramatically reshaped what it means for an immigration application to be considered “complete,” and these changes matter more than ever in 2026. After years of shifting approaches from strict rejection of any blank fields under prior intake rules to a more lenient stance after a 2021 legal settlement,

Form DS-5535, titled “Supplemental Questions for Visa Applicants,” is a questionnaire used by the U.S. Department of State to collect additional information from certain visa applicants. It was introduced in 2017 as part of “extreme vetting” measures to enhance security screening. Consular officers only require DS-5535 for a subset of applicants, typically those flagged for