On September 23, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a Policy Alert clarifying when a filing deadline that falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday moves to the next business day. Effective October 23, 2026, the extension will apply only when a statute, regulation, or form instruction establishes the deadline in terms of a specified number of days. For example, if the last day of a 30-day filing period falls on a federal holiday, a paper filing received by USCIS on the next business day will generally be timely.
The next-business-day rule will not apply, however, when eligibility is tied to a birthday, age cutoff, or another requirement not expressed as a number of days. Thus, a filing that must be made before a child’s 21st birthday must be received before that birthday even if it falls on a weekend or federal holiday. The alert indicates that the same distinction applies to the one-year asylum filing requirement, which is measured by the anniversary of the applicant’s arrival rather than by a stated number of days. The new guidance reverses USCIS’s broader 2023 policy, so practitioners should file age- and anniversary-based applications before the controlling date rather than rely on the next business day.
