USCIS brings back neighborhood checks for citizenship applicants

On 25 August 2026, USCIS published policy alert PA-2026-10, which rewrites the part of its Policy Manual that covers how naturalization applicants are investigated and examined. The update puts personal investigations, usually called neighborhood investigations, back into written policy. In these checks USCIS may gather information about an applicant from people in the community. The agency says it had largely stopped doing them by 1991 and relied on FBI and other security checks instead.

What the update says

The alert ends the general practice of waiving these investigations. USCIS may still waive one in a particular case or a class of cases, at its discretion. Applicants may choose to send testimonial or character reference letters, preferably from US citizens who are not family members, speaking to their character, loyalty and attachment to the Constitution. USCIS says it will take such letters into account when it decides whether to waive an investigation.

The alert also tells officers to confirm the information in an application through documents, the results of any investigation and the applicant’s answers at the interview. The interview chapter of the manual has been renamed Naturalization Examination. The guidance took effect immediately and applies to applications pending on, or filed on or after, the date it was published. It follows a policy memo from the USCIS Director dated 22 August 2025, under which some investigations have already been carried out.