Being the first to navigate a new system means there’s no playbook to follow.

A case can be rejected because of how it was filed.

That's the part clients never see coming.

And recently, USCIS created a new way for it to happen.

DHS has published an interim final rule, effective August 11, that allows USCIS to require online filing. Any form that's been available for e-filing for at least 180 days can be made online-only, with at least 60 days' notice posted on the USCIS website first.

No form requires online filing yet. USCIS hasn't announced which ones will.

There's a waiver for people who genuinely can't file electronically, granted at USCIS's discretion for undue hardship. Public comments are open through October 13.

I've been filing online since before anyone asked me to. It just seemed like where things were going. What I learned is that being first through a new system means there's nothing to look up.

I handle a fairly niche naturalization case type, for the spouse of a U.S. citizen employed abroad. Last time I filed one, online filing didn't exist for that category. It went in on paper.

By the next one, the online option existed, so I used it.

Then I hit the fingerprints.

Normally the applicant is inside the U.S. and gets an appointment at a local office. My client lives abroad. That's the whole reason the case exists. On a paper filing, you're permitted to send a physical copy of the fingerprints instead.

But we weren't filing on paper.

So we submitted a scan, with a note asking USCIS to issue a request if they needed the physical set, and said we'd send it immediately. I couldn't check whether that was correct. The category was new enough online that there was no established process to check against.

My advice: set up your USCIS online account now, and put something through it while paper is still an option. Learn where the system is awkward on a filing where the stakes are low, not on the one that decides whether your family stays together.

Where in your work have you had to figure something out before there was a process for it?