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Good Moral Character, Voter Registration, and False Citizenship Claims — 2025 Tightening

PA-2025-20

USCIS issued PA-2025-20 on August 29, 2025, rescinding the 2021 guidance above (and a related 2023 update) and taking a stricter view of false citizenship claims made during voter registration, unlawful voter registration, and unlawful voting in naturalization adjudications, as part of implementing recent executive orders emphasizing election-integrity review.

Published

2025-08-29

Summary

USCIS issued PA-2025-20 on August 29, 2025, rescinding the 2021 guidance above (and a related 2023 update) and taking a stricter view of false citizenship claims made during voter registration, unlawful voter registration, and unlawful voting in naturalization adjudications, as part of implementing recent executive orders emphasizing election-integrity review.

Current status

This is the current operative standard, replacing the 2021 guidance's narrower carve-out for unintentional DMV registration. Never assess how a specific fact pattern would be treated under this standard — that's an attorney question, not something this app's general explanation can safely narrow down.

Read the primary source ↗

Source: USCIS Policy Manual: Good Moral Character, Unlawful Voting, and False Claim to Citizenship

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