USCIS Releases New Form I-539

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that “it will require certain nonimmigrants—including H-4 and L-2 dependents—seeking to extend their stay in the United States or switch to another nonimmigrant category to use a modified edition of Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status.

The revised form will include a new signature, fee, and biometrics requirement.

According to JD Supra:

  • “Every co-applicant (spouse and/or unmarried minor child) included on the primary applicant’s Form I-539 must submit and sign a separate Form I-539A (previously, only the primary applicant’s signature was required).”
  • “In addition to the form filing fee itself, every applicant and co-applicant (with the exception of certain A, G, and NATO nonimmigrants) must pay an $85 biometric services fee.”
  • “Every applicant and co-applicant must attend a biometric services appointment; this includes children, regardless of age. Biometric services appointments will be scheduled at the Application Support Center closest to the primary applicant’s address; co-applicants who wish to be scheduled at a different location should file separate Forms I-539.”

For more details on the new form, please click here.


The information included in this blog post originally appeared in JD Supra on March 1 2019, written by A. James Vázquez-Azpiri of Morgan Lewis.

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