What Naturalization Applicants Should Know About Neighborhood Investigations

Someone from the government may show up at your neighbor's door and ask what kind of person you are.

If you've got a citizenship application pending, that isn't hypothetical anymore.

On August 25th, USCIS issued Policy Alert PA-2026-10 and wrote neighborhood investigations into its Policy Manual. Officers can go to where you live and where you work and speak to neighbors, landlords, employers and coworkers about you.

The authority itself isn't new. It's been there under section 335(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act since 1952. But the agency waived it as routine practice in 1991 and leaned on fingerprints and FBI checks instead.

That waiver was lifted in August 2025. This alert makes it standing policy.

It isn't automatic. USCIS decides case by case whether to run one. But it reaches applications already pending, not just new ones.

Which is why I sent it to a client of mine. He interviewed for citizenship over a month ago and has heard nothing since. No decision, no request, no explanation. I don't know that this is what's happening in his case. It might be, and I'd rather he hear it from me.

That's the part I keep coming back to. Waiting on a naturalization decision is already one of the longest silences in this system. People refresh the case status. They read into every week that passes.

Now that silence has one more thing living inside it.

So I'm going to raise this with clients up front from here on. Not because anyone's done anything wrong. Because if someone's going around asking your neighbors about you, the worst possible way to find out is from your neighbor.

The practical advice is dull and it's right. Keep your address current. Keep your employment information accurate. Make sure your current circumstances are consistent with the information you provided in your application.