US begins phasing out paper immigration filings: new DHS rule lets USCIS mandate online-only forms

The United States has taken its biggest step yet toward ending paper-based immigration filings. On August 10, the Department of Homeland Security released an interim final rule that authorizes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to make electronic filing mandatory for immigration forms, category by category. The rule takes effect on August 11, 2026 — the same day it publishes in the Federal Register — and applies a simple trigger: once a form has been available for online filing for at least 180 days, USCIS may designate it as online-only, after giving the public at least 60 days’ notice on its website. For anyone with a pending or future US immigration application, from a green card to a work permit to naturalization, the practical message is that a USCIS online account is moving from optional convenience to standard requirement.

Background

USCIS has offered online filing for years, but adoption has been partial and voluntary. According to figures cited in the rule, roughly 44% of the agency’s filings in fiscal year 2025 were submitted electronically, across forms such as the I-130 family petition, the I-765 work-permit application, the I-589 asylum application and the N-400 naturalization application. The remainder arrived on paper: about 14 million benefit requests generating an estimated 453 million paper pages, processed through Treasury Department lockbox facilities at a cost DHS puts at roughly $396 million for intake systems plus $10 million in postage. DHS says the shift will eliminate reliance on those physical lockboxes, speed up electronic fee payment, and improve fraud detection and security screening by making application data easier to receive, store and analyze.

What exactly changed

The interim final rule does not make any specific form online-only today. Instead, it creates the legal mechanism: USCIS may require electronic submission of any immigration form that has been e-fileable for at least 180 days, and it must announce each designation on uscis.gov at least 60 days before the requirement takes effect. Filers will need a USCIS online account, and can either complete the designated form directly online or upload a PDF of the completed form together with supporting evidence. Because the rule was issued as an interim final rule rather than a standard proposal, it is legally in force immediately; DHS is accepting public comments on it until October 13, 2026.

Who it affects

The rule ultimately touches nearly everyone in the US immigration system. Someone preparing a marriage-based green card application, an H-1B worker whose employer files extensions, a family filing an I-130 petition from abroad, or a permanent resident applying for naturalization will all, over time, be steered into the online account system as their forms are designated. Attorneys and employers who batch-file paper petitions will need to adapt their workflows. The change also matters for applicants with limited internet access or low digital literacy: analysis of the rule by Erickson Immigration Group notes a waiver process for undue hardship that weighs factors such as geographic location, socioeconomic circumstances and access to technology, while cautioning that unfamiliarity with computers alone is unlikely to qualify.

What this means in practice

Nothing changes overnight: no form has yet been designated online-only, and each designation will come with at least 60 days’ notice. The sensible preparation is to create a USCIS online account now if you expect to file anything in the coming years, and to check uscis.gov for designation notices before preparing a paper filing. If you are planning a move to the United States, our <a href="/country-guides/united-states">United States country guide</a> covers the main visa and residency routes this filing system sits behind. Anyone who wants to influence how the rule is implemented can submit a public comment until October 13, 2026.