USCIS Moves to Revise Five Forms, Including the I-601A Waiver

Status as of September 14, 2026. USCIS opened public comment on five forms it intends to revise: I-601A, I-601, I-360 and the combined I-526/I-526E collection are at the 60-day stage, with comments due November 13, 2026; Form I-751 is at the later 30-day stage, with comments due October 14, 2026. The notices were published in the Federal Register on September 14 alongside roughly thirty others that extend existing collections without any change. Nothing here alters the law, the fees or the editions of the forms now in use.

Five of these matter because they precede a form rewrite. If you are preparing a provisional waiver, a waiver of inadmissibility, a special immigrant petition, an investor petition or a petition to remove conditions on residence, the version you download today may not be the version USCIS accepts in a few months. This is the stage at which the wording of those forms is still open to comment.

In brief

• Comments on I-601A, I-601, I-360 and I-526/I-526E close November 13, 2026; comments on I-751 close October 14, 2026.

• A Paperwork Reduction Act notice is about the form and the burden it imposes, not about eligibility rules or fees.

• Current editions remain valid. Check the edition date on the form's own USCIS page immediately before filing.

The five forms under revision

The I-360 collection is worth singling out. It is the form used for VAWA self-petitions, for Special Immigrant Juvenile status and for religious workers, among others — categories where the questions a form asks and the evidence it requests carry real weight for people filing without a lawyer.

Why thirty other notices appeared the same day

The same Federal Register issue carried roughly thirty additional USCIS notices covering forms from N-400 and I-821 to DACA and the EB-5 regional center collections. Nearly all of them are marked Extension, Without Change of a Currently Approved Collection.

That phrase means exactly what it says: the agency is renewing OMB authorization to keep using the form as it stands. OMB approvals run for three years and expire on a schedule, so agencies periodically file them in batches. A day with thirty notices is one administrative action, not thirty events, and an extension notice changes nothing for anyone filing.

What a PRA notice is — and what it is not

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, a federal agency cannot collect information from the public without approval from the Office of Management and Budget. To get or renew that approval, the agency publishes notices inviting comment on the necessity of the collection, the accuracy of its burden estimate, the clarity of the questions and ways to reduce the burden.

So a PRA notice is not a proposed rule: it does not change eligibility, standards or fees. What it does open is the form itself — the questions, the evidence requested, the instructions. For a revised collection, this is part of the process that can lead to a new form or instruction edition.

There are two stages. A 60-day notice opens the comment period; a 30-day notice follows when the package goes to OMB, and it is the last chance to comment. The I-751 is at that second stage — its 60-day notice ran in May 2026 and drew three comments.

The numbers inside a notice

Each notice carries an estimate most people never see: how many respondents a form has and how long it takes them. For the I-601A, USCIS puts it at 63,000 respondents a year at 1.3 hours per response, with the biometrics collection adding 1.17 hours for the same 63,000 people — a total annual burden of 156,681 hours.

Those estimates are what comments most often address, because they are the agency's own account of what compliance costs the public. An estimate that looks too low is a standard ground for objection.

What this changes for someone filing now

Nothing immediately. The current editions remain the ones to file. A proposed change affects filers only once USCIS issues the revised form or instructions and announces the edition date and any transition rules.

Where it matters is planning. Waiver cases in particular are prepared over months, and a form that gets a new edition mid-preparation has to be refiled on the new version if the old one is no longer accepted. Anyone working on an I-601A or an I-601 this autumn should open the form's USCIS page immediately before filing rather than reusing a PDF downloaded earlier.

How to comment

Comments go through regulations.gov under the docket ID for the specific collection, and each submission must include the OMB control number in the body. Comments sent to agency staff by email or letter are not comments on the collection. Everything filed is posted publicly, including personal information.

Practical note: the docket IDs are old — 2007, 2009, 2012 — because they belong to the collection, not to this year's notice. Searching regulations.gov by form number alone tends to return the wrong thing.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to refile anything because of these notices?

No. A Paperwork Reduction Act notice does not change eligibility rules, fees or the validity of current form editions. It opens comment on the form and on the burden estimate before a revised edition is issued.

Which deadline applies to which form?

Comments on Form I-751 close October 14, 2026, because that collection is at the 30-day stage following a 60-day notice in May 2026. Comments on I-601A, I-601, I-360 and I-526/I-526E close November 13, 2026.

USCIS published dozens of notices that day. Do they all matter?

No. Nearly all of them are extensions without change, meaning the agency is renewing OMB authorization for a form exactly as it stands. Only the five revision notices signal an intended change to a form or its instructions.

Official sources

This material is informational, current as of September 14, 2026, and is not legal advice. Comment periods and form editions change; before filing, check the edition date on the USCIS page for the form, and consult a licensed immigration attorney about anything specific to your case.