USCIS Reinstates NGO Voter Registration at Ceremonies

UPDATE: On August 31, 2026, USCIS issued a new policy memo (PA-2026-11) that rescinded its 2025 restrictions outright and wrote the nonprofit voter-registration rules back into the USCIS Policy Manual. Unlike the August 12 alert, this change is permanent and isn’t tied to how the League of Women Voters v. USCIS lawsuit turns out.

A federal court has forced U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to let nonprofit groups help register new citizens to vote at naturalization ceremonies again, reversing a 2025 restriction.

In an August 12 policy alert, the agency said it was temporarily reinstating its June 28, 2017 guidance on nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations at administrative naturalization ceremonies. That guidance lets these groups hand out and collect voter registration forms, and register new citizens to vote after the ceremony, when local election officials aren't there to do it.

That August 12 move followed an August 3 order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in League of Women Voters v. USCIS, which paused a stricter August 2025 USCIS policy that had limited voter registration help at these ceremonies to state and local election officials only.

What does the naturalization ceremony policy change update?

The updated USCIS policy manual states that:

• Non-governmental organizations can request to attend naturalization ceremonies to provide voter registration services
• Acceptable voter registration services include distributing, reviewing, and helping people complete voter registration forms
• Groups must submit a one-time attestation (Form N-401) to their local USCIS field office at least 60 days before a ceremony to be approved to participate on an ongoing basis
• Groups can't alter completed voter registration forms or collect or retain personal information from people who register
• USCIS can revoke a group's participation if it doesn't follow the rules

How does this affect naturalization applicants?

Manifest immigration attorney Ana Gabriela Urizar says naturalized U.S. citizens can now expect nonprofit volunteers on-site helping with voter registration at ceremonies, alongside or instead of state and local election officials. USCIS’s August 31 policy alert makes this permanent, and the rules no longer depend on how the League of Women Voters v. USCIS lawsuit turns out.

“This is no longer a stopgap policy tied to the lawsuit,” she says. “USCIS wrote these rules directly into the Policy Manual, so nonprofit groups can keep helping new citizens register to vote no matter how the court case ends.”

Nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations that want to participate still need to submit a one-time Form N-401 attestation to their local USCIS field office at least 60 days before a ceremony. They still can’t alter completed voter-registration forms, and they can’t collect or retain personal information from anyone who registers.