USCIS Ends Remote Attorney Participation in Interviews: What This Means for Massachusetts Clients Starting Today

What Changed Today

Effective today, May 18, 2026, USCIS will no longer permit attorneys and accredited representatives to participate remotely in interviews at field offices, or in affirmative asylum and Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) 203 interviews at asylum offices, except in limited circumstances. All legal representatives must be physically present in the interview room. The agency posted the alert on its asylum guidance pages and on the official field office guidance pages.

The new rule ends a practice that grew out of the pandemic. Beginning in 2020, USCIS allowed attorneys to participate in many interviews by telephone or video link, using Form G-1593 for affirmative asylum and NACARA 203 cases and informal office-by-office practices at field offices. The practice continued, and in many regions expanded, after the emergency phase of the pandemic ended. For attorneys based in Massachusetts who represented clients with cases assigned to the Newark Asylum Office in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, telephone participation had become the standard way to attend a four to five hour asylum interview without losing a full day to travel. That option is now closed for new interviews scheduled on or after today.

Which Interviews Are Covered

The new rule applies to two distinct categories of USCIS interviews.

Field office interviews. A USCIS field office conducts most of the in-person interviews that lead to a green card or to citizenship. The covered interviews include the marriage-based green card interview under Form I-130 and Form I-485, the stand-alone adjustment of status interview, the naturalization interview under Form N-400, the removal of conditions interview under Form I-751, the refugee follow-to-join interview, and a small number of other less-common adjustment interviews. The Boston Field Office at 15 New Sudbury Street in Government Center is the primary office for cases originating in eastern Massachusetts. The Lawrence Field Office at 525 Turnpike Street handles a portion of naturalization interviews from the Merrimack Valley.

Affirmative asylum and NACARA 203 interviews. An affirmative asylum interview is the interview held when an applicant files Form I-589 with USCIS, rather than after a referral from immigration court. A NACARA 203 interview applies to a smaller set of Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and certain nationals of the former Soviet bloc seeking suspension of deportation or special-rule cancellation. Both types of interviews are conducted at one of the eight USCIS asylum offices nationwide. Cases filed by applicants in Massachusetts are assigned to the Newark Asylum Office at 1200 Wall Street West, Lyndhurst, New Jersey. The new rule means an attorney representing a Massachusetts asylum applicant now has to be in Lyndhurst the day of the interview.

The asylum merits interview, which is the interview held after a positive credible fear determination at the border or at a detention facility, is governed by a separate, narrower remote-participation rule. The USCIS asylum merits guidance continues to allow remote participation by telephone with a completed Form G-1593, although the practical scope of that allowance is being watched closely by practitioners.

The Limited Exceptions

USCIS has stated that the rule will permit remote participation in limited circumstances but has not yet released public guidance describing the full scope of the exceptions. Practitioners expect that the exceptions will be narrow and that approval may require sign-off above the local office level rather than a discretionary call by the interviewing officer. The categories most likely to qualify, based on early reporting and the prior USCIS practice, include documented disability that prevents travel, a medical emergency, and a small set of operational circumstances when the office itself initiates a video appearance. A scheduling conflict with another USCIS or immigration court hearing, the distance between the lawyer's office and the interview site, or a lawyer's preference for telephone work will not qualify.

The form most relevant to the prior remote-participation regime, Form G-1593, remains on the USCIS website for the asylum merits interview context. The form is no longer the operative document for affirmative asylum and NACARA 203 interviews scheduled on or after today.

Why This Matters for Massachusetts Clients

The new rule affects three distinct populations of Massachusetts clients in three different ways.

Affirmative asylum applicants. Massachusetts has one of the largest asylum populations on the East Coast. Brazilian, Haitian, Salvadoran, Honduran, Guatemalan, Venezuelan, and African asylum applicants in Framingham, Brockton, Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, Everett, Malden, Chelsea, Revere, and across the Greater Boston area file affirmative asylum applications every week. Affirmative asylum interviews routinely last four to five hours and frequently involve highly detailed and emotionally difficult testimony about persecution. Under the prior practice, a Massachusetts attorney could participate by telephone from a Boston office and stay engaged for the full interview. Beginning today, the attorney must be in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Travel from Boston to Lyndhurst is approximately a four-and-a-half-hour drive each way, or a flight to Newark Liberty plus ground transit. The full day of attorney time has to be priced into the case and scheduled in advance.

Green card and naturalization applicants. Most marriage-based green card interviews, Form I-485 stand-alone adjustment interviews, naturalization interviews, and Form I-751 removal of conditions interviews for eastern Massachusetts are held at the Boston Field Office. Under the prior practice, attorneys based outside Boston, or attorneys with overlapping interview schedules across multiple field offices, occasionally appeared by phone with the consent of the supervising officer. Beginning today, the attorney must be physically present at 15 New Sudbury Street. Clients with upcoming interviews should confirm with their attorney that the attorney has cleared the calendar for an in-person appearance.

NACARA 203 applicants. Although the NACARA program covers a smaller population, the relatively small number of remaining NACARA 203 cases in Massachusetts will follow the same rule and travel to Lyndhurst.

What This Could Mean for the Right to Counsel

The Trump administration described the rule change as a restoration of in-person practice. Critics, including academics at Pace University Haub Law and several national bar groups, have raised due-process concerns. The legal-services bar has long recognized that the geographic mismatch between where applicants live and where USCIS interviews are held creates an access-to-counsel problem. Massachusetts is a clear example. The Newark Asylum Office is the third-most-distant asylum office assignment for any U.S. state with a significant asylum population, behind only Alaska and Hawaii. Remote participation, while imperfect, partially closed that gap for low-income asylum applicants whose attorneys could not bill for a full day of travel.

It is too early to predict whether the rule will be subject to legal challenge. The Administrative Procedure Act requires notice-and-comment rulemaking for substantive changes that bind regulated parties, and the alert-style rollout of the new policy may face litigation similar to the Doe v. Trump challenge in the District of Massachusetts to other USCIS adjudicative-hold policies. Until any such litigation produces an injunction, the rule is the rule.

What Massachusetts Clients Should Do This Week

If you have a USCIS interview scheduled in the next 30 days, the action items are straightforward.

Confirm in writing that your attorney will appear in person. Ask the attorney to confirm the office, the date, the time, and the attorney's plan for travel. Get the confirmation by email so there is a written record. If the attorney cannot appear in person for any reason, ask whether co-counsel is available to cover the interview or whether the office can be requested to reschedule.

Confirm the interview location. A USCIS notice of interview will identify the office. Confirm the address. The Boston Field Office is at 15 New Sudbury Street, Boston, MA 02203. The Lawrence Field Office is at 525 Turnpike Street, North Andover, MA 01845. The Newark Asylum Office is at 1200 Wall Street West, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071. Plan the journey in detail, including parking, the building security line, and the time the interview is expected to begin.

Do a mock interview in person with your attorney. Under the prior remote-participation regime, mock interviews often took place by video. Beginning today, the mock interview should take place in person, in a conference room that approximates the dynamics of the actual interview. Long, emotionally difficult testimony is much harder in person than on video, and the attorney needs to observe how the client holds up under that pressure.

Bring complete original documents. The in-person requirement means there is no opportunity for an attorney to email a missing document during the interview. Originals of every passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, EAD, prior approval notice, and any document filed with the original application should be in a labeled folder.

Do not skip the interview because the attorney cannot attend. If your attorney is unable to appear in person, the interview will still go forward unless the office formally reschedules. Going to the interview without counsel is far better than failing to appear. Failure to appear at an affirmative asylum interview can result in referral to immigration court with a Form I-589 still pending. Failure to appear at a marriage-based green card interview can result in denial. Failure to appear at a naturalization interview can result in administrative closure of the N-400.

Practical Notes on the Newark Asylum Office

Because the largest population of affected Massachusetts clients are affirmative asylum applicants assigned to the Newark Asylum Office, a few specific notes are worth flagging. The Newark Asylum Office occupies a commercial building in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, with no public transit station within walking distance. Parking is available on site. Security screening at the building entrance is consistent with federal facility standards and applicants should plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before the scheduled interview. Cellular phone signal inside the interview rooms is unreliable; an attorney who relies on a remote interpreter or remote document access should bring redundancy. The interview itself typically lasts between three and six hours, with breaks. An attorney traveling from Boston should plan for a full day, with overnight lodging considered when the interview is scheduled before 9:30 a.m.

Frequently Asked Questions