USCIS Is Scheduling More Employment-Based Green Card Interviews. And Your Attorney Has to Show Up in Person Now.

Two changes hit at the same time

Two separate USCIS policy shifts in May 2026 have changed the interview picture for employment-based green card applicants, and the combination is harder than either one alone.

First: USCIS updated its Policy Manual in early 2026 to tighten interview waiver criteria for adjustment of status applications. Employment-based I-485 filers who previously would have had their cases approved without ever speaking to an officer are now being scheduled for in-person interviews at field offices. The rate of employment-based interview waivers has dropped sharply.

Second: effective May 18, 2026, USCIS ended the practice of allowing attorneys and accredited representatives to participate in interviews remotely by phone. Legal representatives must now be physically present at the field office on the interview date, with limited exceptions that require headquarters-level approval. The phone accommodation that got you through COVID and stuck around for years is over. If you have an employment-based I-485 pending and you get an interview notice, you need to know both of these changes. The odds of getting called in have gone up, and the ground rules for what happens when you go have changed.

Why employment-based interviews stopped being routinely waived

For most of the period from 2017 through 2024, USCIS waived interviews for the majority of employment-based I-485 applications. The logic was straightforward enough: employer-sponsored cases were generally well-documented, fraud rates in EB-2 and EB-3 were historically lower than in family-based categories, and USCIS was struggling with a massive processing backlog. Waiving interviews on routine cases let the agency move faster.

That changed in early 2026. USCIS revised its Policy Manual to restrict the circumstances under which interviews can be skipped. The revision reflects a broader shift in how the current administration has approached adjustment of status — visible in the same May 21, 2026 policy memo that reframed I-485 as an act of administrative discretion rather than a routine processing step. The logical extension of that framing is what's happening at field offices now: more cases going before an officer in person, because discretion is easier to exercise when there is a person in the room to question.

Current field reports from immigration law firms suggest roughly 72 percent of employment-based cases still qualify for interview waivers. That means more than one in four employment-based I-485 applicants are now being interviewed — a rate that has not been seen since USCIS began expanding waivers nearly a decade ago. Practitioners tracking this closely expect the number to keep rising.

Who is getting called in

USCIS has not published a formula for deciding which employment-based I-485 cases get an interview and which get waived. What has emerged from field reports and attorney client experiences is a rough profile of who is being scheduled.

Concurrent filings — where the I-140 immigrant petition and the I-485 adjustment application are filed simultaneously before the I-140 has been separately approved — are drawing interviews at higher rates. Self-petitions, particularly EB-1A extraordinary ability and EB-2 NIW national interest waiver cases, are being interviewed more frequently, especially when there is a gap between when the I-140 was filed and the applicant's current employment situation.

Cases involving multiple prior status changes, gaps in authorized status in earlier years, OPT or STEM OPT employment that doesn't align cleanly with SEVIS records, or any prior USCIS request for evidence or denial are also landing in the interview pile at higher rates. The May 21 discretion memo strengthens the officer's hand once the interview is scheduled: the in-person setting is where the officer probes the status history and weighs the equities the memo says they're supposed to be weighing. Employer-sponsored EB-2 and EB-3 cases where the I-140 was separately approved well before the I-485 was filed, the petitioner employer is current and stable, and the file is otherwise clean are still more likely to receive waivers — but more likely is not a guarantee, and cases fitting this description are also being called in.

The attorney phone call that stopped working on May 18

For years, USCIS field offices allowed attorneys and accredited representatives to participate in green card interviews by phone when they couldn't be physically present. The practice expanded significantly during COVID and continued well after — which meant an applicant with a Chicago-area attorney could attend an interview at a USCIS field office in Los Angeles and still have their lawyer on the phone. The applicant traveled. The attorney didn't.

Effective May 18, 2026, that flexibility ended. USCIS issued a policy directive requiring attorneys and accredited representatives to be physically present at field office interviews and at affirmative asylum and NACARA 203 interviews at asylum offices. The policy covers the interview types most relevant to employment-based applicants: I-485 adjustment of status interviews, I-751 conditions-removal interviews, and N-400 naturalization interviews. Affirmative asylum applicants who filed Form I-589 are also covered.

The exceptions are narrow and real but not practical to count on. USCIS has acknowledged that remote participation may still be permitted in limited circumstances. In practice, practitioners report that those exceptions require headquarters-level approval, not a discretionary call by the local interviewing officer on the day. If your attorney has another hearing, a flight delay, or an office in a different state, that does not by itself qualify for an exception. Plan for in-person or arrange for different representation that can physically appear. One boundary worth knowing: this rule does not touch immigration court. Removal proceedings and bond hearings before immigration judges under EOIR are governed by separate rules, and the May 18 directive has no effect there.

What the officer is actually looking at during the interview

If your employment-based I-485 is scheduled for an interview, the officer is typically going to cover three things: your identity and admissibility, the underlying I-140 basis, and discretion.

Identity and admissibility covers biographic information, status history, any prior removal orders or immigration court proceedings, criminal history, and public health grounds. For the I-140 basis: employer-sponsored EB-2 and EB-3 applicants should be ready to confirm the sponsoring employer still exists, the position is still available, and the intent to hire is real. For self-petitions, expect to be able to speak directly to the extraordinary ability or national interest merits without reaching for exhibits in the moment. A well-prepared EB-1A applicant knows the core of their own record — the ten claimed criteria, the three strongest pieces of evidence for each — without needing to flip through a binder to answer basic questions.

The discretion element is increasingly visible. Since the May 21 AOS memo, officers are not just checking statutory eligibility boxes — they are weighing whether the totality of circumstances favors approval. Status history gaps, prior inconsistencies between visa applications, OPT employment issues that weren't cleaned up, or any prior contact with USCIS that left an unresolved question are the kinds of things an officer can now probe in person more visibly than before. Come prepared to address anything in your file that could look like a negative factor, not just to confirm the checklist.

What to do before the interview date

Confirm your attorney's plan for appearing physically. Since May 18, phone participation is over. If your attorney was expecting to call in, they need to book travel, or you need different representation for the interview. Resolve this well before the interview date. USCIS field offices can accommodate rescheduling requests made in advance when the reason is legitimate — they can't undo an interview that already happened without counsel present.

Organize your status history into a clean written timeline before you go: every entry into the United States, every status period, every transition, and any gap or bridging period. Officers have access to systems that will surface this history. Walking in with a clear account of your own record — with documentary backup for any status change or gap — is far better than reconstructing it verbally under questioning.

Bring originals or certified copies of everything central to the case: passport with all entries, I-94 records, I-140 approval notice, I-485 receipt, visa stamps, two to three years of tax returns, a current employer letter, and recent pay stubs. For self-petition cases, a clean organized copy of the supporting exhibits from the I-140 is worth carrying. For employer-sponsored cases, a current letter from the employer confirming the position is still open and the offer terms are unchanged eliminates the most common source of friction at the interview.

This article is informational only and does not constitute legal advice. Interview preparation for an employment-based I-485 is specific to your file, your status history, and the basis of your I-140 petition. Consult a licensed immigration attorney before your scheduled interview date.