India, Aug. 27 -- US Citizenship and Immigration Services has reinforced its use of "neighborhood investigations" in some naturalization cases, giving immigration officers another tool to verify information submitted by applicants seeking US citizenship.

The revised policy memorandum, issued on August 25, 2026, follows an earlier USCIS move that ended a decades-long general waiver of such investigations in August 2025. Under the updated guidance, USCIS may conduct personal investigations as part of the adjudication process for certain naturalization applications, according to an analysis published by Fragomen.

The investigations are discretionary, meaning they are not expected to apply automatically to every applicant for US citizenship...