New Delhi, Aug. 6 -- The United States has introduced stricter rules for processing immigration benefit applications, empowering US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers to reject visa, green card and other immigration requests that are incomplete or lack the required supporting documents without first asking applicants to provide additional information. The change is expected to affect thousands of Indian applicants.

In a press release, USCIS said it has reaffirmed that applicants are responsible for proving they qualify for an immigration benefit when submitting their application. If a request does not include sufficient evidence or the mandatory initial documentation to establish eligibility, officers may deny it outri...