Status as of September 7, 2026. On August 31, 2026, USCIS published new editions of Forms I-864, I-864A, and I-864EZ (all dated 08/24/26) and made them mandatory the same day, with no transition period — the notice went out after 4:30 p.m. Eastern. On September 3, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the firm Benach Pitney Reilly sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the introduction of the forms without advance notice. USCIS then softened its position: the prior 10/17/24 edition is accepted through September 30, 2026, and from October 1 only the 08/24/26 edition. An adjustment of status application is not rejected outright over an outdated edition of the affidavit: USCIS follows 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8) regarding the failure to submit required initial evidence. The edition in force on the day of filing is verified on the form page at uscis.gov.
The Affidavit of Support is the form on which a U.S. citizen or permanent resident promises to support a relative who is getting a green card. Edition changes usually pass unnoticed: an item is renumbered, a paragraph moves. This time a single sentence was added above the signature line, and it put the form in the news — by signing, the sponsor authorizes USCIS to request information about them from consumer reporting agencies. Online this instantly became "USCIS is now checking sponsors' credit scores and will deny anyone with a low one." Below: what actually changed in the form, what did not, and where the real risk lies.
In brief
The new edition of Forms I-864, I-864A, and I-864EZ is 08/24/26, published August 31, 2026.
The principal substantive change is a privacy release authorizing a request for information about the sponsor from consumer reporting agencies. The same release was added to I-864A and I-864EZ.
USCIS has not set or publicly announced a minimum credit score.
The practical risk lies not in scores but in a freeze on the credit file, which can keep the agency from obtaining the data and stall the case.
What was actually added to the form
The change sits in the sponsor's declaration, directly above the signature line. The language grants authorization to request information about that person from one or more consumer reporting agencies, in order to obtain or verify information used to assess the sufficiency of the affidavit. The official wording does not name specific companies.
Everything else in the form is untouched. The household size worksheet, the income and tax sections, the rules on assets, and the interpreter and preparer pages match the prior edition word for word. The differences are cosmetic: a line wraps differently here, a period disappeared from an item number there.
The difference is nonetheless real. Previously USCIS assessed a sponsor on what the sponsor brought in: a tax return, W-2s, an employer letter, statements. Now the agency has its own independent source of information about the signer's finances.
Three forms, not one
Three documents changed edition at once, and mixing versions is a recurring source of trouble in a filing package.
Form | Who signs it |
|---|---|
I-864 | The principal sponsor, and a joint sponsor — each signs their own |
I-864A | A household member whose income is combined with the sponsor's |
I-864EZ | Simplified version for a petitioning sponsor with W-2 income only |
The consumer-reporting release appears in all three, and the USCIS notices for all three are worded identically: a 30-day grace period, the switch to the new edition on October 1, and the 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8) procedure instead of rejection. Through September 30, 2026 both editions are accepted, so a mix of versions in a package is permissible during that window.
Which edition is accepted right now
On August 31, 2026, USCIS declared the 08/24/26 edition mandatory with no transition period. That was unusual for the agency, which normally allows several weeks during which both versions are valid. Here the notice appeared on the evening of the day the requirement took effect — packages printed the day before and mailed the next morning formally contained an invalid form.
The agency then reversed course and opened the prior 10/17/24 edition for filing through September 30, 2026 inclusive. From October 1 only 08/24/26 is accepted. Even then, an adjustment of status application is not rejected outright over an outdated affidavit: USCIS follows 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8), meaning the missing item is requested separately. Anyone who has already filed the new edition needs to do nothing further.
Does this mean a sponsor now needs good credit?
The short answer: there is no publicly announced threshold. USCIS has not set or published a minimum score or a formula for how credit history affects the assessment, and has not said that a low score by itself disqualifies a sponsor. Nor has the agency said it will pull a report in every case.
The requirement for a sponsor is what it has been for twenty years: income at or above 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines for the applicable household size (100 percent for service members sponsoring a spouse or child). The threshold amounts are published on Form I-864P and revised annually.
Two distinct things are worth keeping apart here, because they are easy to conflate. The sufficiency of the affidavit is an assessment of whether Form I-864 meets the requirements of the statute. The public charge ground of inadmissibility is a forward-looking judgment about the immigrant, not the sponsor. The consumer-reporting release belongs to the first: in the form's own text it is tied to verifying information used to assess the sufficiency of the affidavit.
Separately, USCIS guidance on public charge changes on September 18, 2026, and according to specialists who have read the revised Policy Manual, a sufficient affidavit will no longer settle the question on its own — officers gain room to weigh, among other things, whether the sponsor is genuinely willing to provide support, and the sponsor's financial history. The agency has not published any provision making a credit report an element of the public charge analysis.
A credit freeze is where the real trap is
The one practical warning USCIS gave itself: if a sponsor has a credit or security freeze on their consumer or credit report file, the agency may not be able to access the information necessary to assess the sufficiency of the affidavit. If USCIS requests that the freeze be released, a delay in responding stretches out the adjudication.
The difficulty is timing. A freeze is a sensible protection against identity theft, and people who set one usually had a reason. But there is no predicting when an officer will reach a particular file — it can be many months after the package was mailed. A temporary lift timed to the filing date will have expired by then. And if the sponsor moved in the meantime without filing Form I-865 within 30 days, the request may not arrive at all.
One more detail: the frozen file need not be the principal sponsor's. A joint sponsor signs their own I-864 and a household member signs an I-864A, and the same release appears in both.
The AILA lawsuit: why the rollout is being challenged
On September 3, 2026, AILA together with Benach Pitney Reilly filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The claim is not about the content of the form but about how it was introduced: plaintiffs point to violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act — no advance notice, no transition period, and an announcement issued after the requirement had already taken effect.
The association notes that the timing was particularly bad. Late September is the close of the fiscal year and a deadline many were preparing packages against; September 18 is the effective date of the new public charge rules. A rejection or delay in those weeks means, for some applicants, a lost priority date or a child aging out of a category.
What followed came quickly: shortly after the suit was filed, the agency put in place exactly what the association had asked for — a thirty-day transition period and a procedure under which an outdated edition of the affidavit does not sink the entire application.
What has not changed about the affidavit
Form I-864 was never a formality. It is a legally binding contract with the U.S. government: the signer undertakes to support the immigrant at no less than 125 percent of the poverty line, and if the immigrant receives means-tested public benefits, the granting agency can seek reimbursement from the sponsor — and sue for the cost of the benefits, legal fees, and associated costs.
The obligation runs until the immigrant earns 40 qualifying quarters of work, becomes a U.S. citizen, loses permanent resident status and departs the country, or dies. Divorce does not end it. Against that background, adding a credit report reads less like a rupture than like one more step toward closer scrutiny of who exactly is making the promise.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a minimum credit score for a sponsor?
There is no publicly announced threshold. USCIS has not set or published a minimum score or a formula for how credit history affects the assessment of the affidavit, and has not said that a low score automatically disqualifies a sponsor. The statutory threshold is unchanged — income at or above 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
Which edition of the form is in force now?
The current edition is 08/24/26, published August 31, 2026. The prior 10/17/24 edition is accepted through September 30, 2026 inclusive, and from October 1 only the new one. The edition in force is verified on the form page at uscis.gov on the day of filing.
What if a package has already been mailed with the old form?
USCIS does not reject an adjustment of status application outright over an outdated edition of the affidavit: it follows 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8) regarding missing initial evidence, meaning the item is requested separately. Through September 30, 2026 the prior edition is accepted on equal footing with the new one. Anyone who has already filed the new edition needs to do nothing further.
Will a credit freeze get in the way?
USCIS warned directly that with a freeze on the credit file it may not obtain the information needed to assess the sufficiency of the affidavit, and that a delay in responding to a request to release it stretches out the adjudication. The same release appears in the forms signed by a joint sponsor and by a household member.
Does the change affect consular cases?
The affidavit is also filed in cases moving through the National Visa Center and a consulate, so the edition matters there too. In its notices, however, USCIS describes the consumer-reporting release as authorizing USCIS itself to request the information; the Department of State is not named in them.
Is this connected to the new public charge rules?
These are separate events and separate legal questions. The sufficiency of the affidavit is assessed against the statutory requirements for Form I-864, while the public charge ground is a forward-looking judgment about the immigrant. The release in the new edition is tied specifically to verifying the sufficiency of the affidavit. The agency has published no provision making a credit report an element of the public charge analysis.
Official sources
Resource | What it covers |
|---|---|
Current edition, instructions, and the deadline for the prior version | |
Contract with a household member whose income is counted | |
Simplified affidavit for a petitioning sponsor with W-2 income | |
Income thresholds by household size for the current year | |
Public charge guidance, including review of the sponsor, from September 18, 2026 |
This material is informational, current as of September 7, 2026, and is not legal advice. Form edition requirements changed twice in one week and are under challenge in court; the edition in force on the day of filing is verified at uscis.gov, and irreversible decisions in a family case are made in consultation with a licensed immigration attorney.