USCIS security checks halt processing of 12 million immigration cases

On 2026-04-30, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services implemented a new FBI-backed security verification process requiring resubmission of previously filed fingerprints for immigration benefit applications. According to the article, the internal directive instructed officials to refrain from approving pending cases that had not undergone the expanded checks, halting adjudications for about 12 million applications.