Comments Close on USCIS Online-Filing Rule, Leaving a 60-Day Website Notice as the Last Step Before Paper Filing Ends

Public comments on the rule that lets USCIS end paper filing form by form close Oct. 13. The framework is already in force, and its own numbers show the change will fall hardest on law offices, not on individual applicants.

The public comment period on the Department of Homeland Security’s rule allowing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to require online filing closes on Oct. 13, but the rule itself has been in force since Aug. 11. The interim final rule does not yet make any form online-only; it gives USCIS the power to do so, form by form, with 60 days’ notice posted on its website, and creates a $25 waiver request for people who cannot file electronically.

That structure is why the end of the comment window matters more than it sounds. Once a framework like this is in the Code of Federal Regulations, the next step does not require another Federal Register rulemaking. Under the amended 8 C.F.R. 103.2(a)(1)(ii), a form becomes subject to mandatory e-filing when three conditions are met:

it has been available for online filing for more than 180 days;
USCIS decides, in its discretion, to require e-filing, either for everyone or only in specified circumstances; and
USCIS posts at least 60 days’ notice on its website naming the date after which paper versions will no longer be accepted.

According to the rule, 22 forms met the 180-day test as of Dec. 16, 2025. No form has yet been designated, so paper filing remains available today for every form that accepts it.

The paper holdouts are mostly lawyers

The most revealing figures in the rule are about who still mails envelopes. USCIS received more than 13 million benefit requests in fiscal 2025, and about 44 percent arrived through an electronic channel, DHS reports. Among individuals filing for themselves, about 43 percent used online filing where it was offered. Among attorneys and accredited representatives, the share was under 6 percent.

Read plainly, the people the debate usually centers on, applicants without internet access or computer skills, are already moving online faster than the professionals who represent them. The practices that will feel this first are high-volume family, naturalization and employment firms whose workflows run on printed packets, wet signatures and courier tracking numbers. Employers that sponsor workers through outside counsel should expect their law firms to change how they collect documents and signatures well before any designation lands.

DHS frames the change as cost and security. The rule says USCIS rejected more than 1 million paper requests in fiscal 2025, spent about $10.9 million on postage and maintains roughly 58.6 million active files at 142 facilities. It estimates net savings to filers of about $518 million a year, and separately counts the $50 fee reduction USCIS already gives online filers as roughly $140 million a year moving from the government to applicants. Those are the agency’s projections, not audited results.

Where the risk sits once a form goes online-only

The sharpest practical danger is a missed date. Under 8 C.F.R. 103.2(a)(7)(ii), a rejected filing does not keep a filing date. After a form’s cutoff, a paper packet mailed out of habit would be rejected, and for filings tied to a deadline, such as a request to extend a stay that must be filed before the I-94 expires, that can mean a lapse in status rather than a mere delay.

The escape valve is Form I-936, Request for Waiver of E-Filing Requirement, which carries a $25 fee under 8 C.F.R. 106.2. That fee can itself be waived only when the underlying form is one already eligible for fee waivers under 8 C.F.R. 106.3, such as VAWA self-petitions, T and U visa filings and Temporary Protected Status. The regulation says USCIS “may” grant a waiver in its discretion but sets no standard in the regulatory text; the preamble describes the process as meant for individuals facing undue hardship. How generously USCIS reads that phrase, and how quickly it decides I-936 requests, will determine whether the waiver works for detained applicants and others with limited access.

Comments filed by the deadline can shape a final rule, and DHS has said a mandate can be revisited if it produces heavy waiver volume or a sharp drop in filings. The more consequential thing to watch, in our assessment, is the USCIS website. The first 60-day designation notice will show which forms the agency considers ready, and whether it starts broadly or with narrow categories, as the rule allows. Because the rule took effect without a prior comment period, that procedural choice is also the most obvious point of attack if anyone challenges it in court.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds a LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Deigo and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

Author's website Author's posts