Policy Update · Guidance updated September 14, 2026 · JBNP Law
USCIS was going to force everyone onto new editions of Form I-765 and Form I-539 on September 15, with no grace period and no exceptions. Then the rule those forms were built to implement was blocked in court. The new editions are not being accepted. The old ones still are.
In August, USCIS announced revised editions of Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization — both carrying edition date 09/15/26. Both had been rewritten specifically to implement the fixed-admission-period rule for F, J and I nonimmigrants. USCIS was explicit that there would be no grace period: older editions would be rejected outright from September 15.
On September 14, the District of Massachusetts enjoined that rule. USCIS now states on both form pages that, pursuant to the September 14 order, it continues to accept the 08/28/24 edition of Form I-539 and the 08/21/25 edition of Form I-765, and is not accepting the 09/15/26 edition of either form.
The cutover was called off one day before it was due to happen.
The edition you need is the older one. For Form I-539 that is 08/28/24. For Form I-765 that is 08/21/25. The 09/15/26 editions are the ones being rejected right now — the exact opposite of what was announced in August.
This reaches well past students. Form I-765 is how adjustment of status applicants get work authorization, and how E and L dependent spouses apply for an EAD. Form I-539 is how dependents of E-2, L-1 and H-1B workers extend or change status. A rejected filing is not a small administrative annoyance: you lose your place in line, and if your current status lapses while you refile, you can fall out of status entirely.
Anything you filed on the older edition before September 15 was correct then and is still correct now.
One thing not to conflate with this: Form I-485 also changed on September 18, and that change is real. USCIS published a 09/18/26 edition to align with the public charge final rule, again with no grace period. It will reject the 01/20/25 and 09/04/26 editions postmarked on or after September 18, and accept only the new one. The September 14 order does not touch it. Two form changes in the same week, one live and one cancelled, is exactly the kind of thing that produces a rejected filing.
We are checking the edition date on every I-765 and I-539 before it goes out, against the USCIS form page on the day of filing rather than against a copy saved earlier. That is the specific trap here: a blank form downloaded in early September may well be the 09/15/26 edition that USCIS is now rejecting.
If you have a filing going out this week, the safest sequence is simple. Pull the blank form fresh from the USCIS page the day you sign it, confirm the edition date matches what USCIS currently says it will accept, and file. Do not reuse a blank saved from a previous case.
If you filed on the 09/15/26 edition in the days around September 15 and you are waiting to hear back, tell us. A rejection notice is recoverable, but it is far easier to handle if we are expecting it and can refile immediately rather than discovering it weeks later.
The broader lesson is worth stating plainly. USCIS announced a hard cutover with no grace period, then reversed it on one day’s notice because a court intervened. Anyone filing over the next few months should assume form requirements can change between the day a case is prepared and the day it is mailed, and should check rather than assume.
And if the First Circuit stays the injunction, the form editions will likely flip again. We are not treating the current guidance as settled, and neither should you.
This post is general information, current as of when it was written — not legal advice, and no substitute for talking to an attorney about your own case. This area is changing quickly, and reading this doesn’t make us your lawyers. Please get advice on your specific situation before you act.