UPDATE: USCIS Has Changed Direction

What Happened?

USCIS confirmed they have changed direction and will continue adjudicating all pending and incoming immigration cases (e.g., work permits, status extensions, citizenship and asylum applications) from any of the seven countries listed on the travel ban:

Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Syria and Yemen

Details:

According to a memorandum released hours ago, USCIS’ Acting Director issued official policy guidance contradicting instructions from earlier this week. USCIS officers are now instructed to continue and complete processing all applications and petitions regardless of national origin for those in the U.S. The memo also confirms that applications not conferring travel authorization (such as I-140 Immigrant Visa Petitions) will still be processed for individuals from the 7 countries even if they are currently not in the U.S.

Initially, USCIS was instructed in an email from DHS leadership to halt processing of all cases for nationals of the 7 countries because of the “immigration benefits” language included in the overall ban of the January 27 Executive Order.