Immigration officials can request credit reports on people sponsoring family members for a green card under new changes announced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The updates to Form I-864 went into effect immediately after they were revealed in August. The form, also known as an affidavit of support, is signed by people accepting financial responsibility for an applicant coming to live in the United States.

USCIS said the latest edition of the form includes a privacy release that authorizes it to request information from one or more consumer agencies, but it has not provided further details on how information may be used.

Xiao Wang, CEO of U.S. Immigration service provider Boundless, said that while sponsors have previously been required to meet income and asset requirements, the change opens the door to considering information from consumer reports.

While the impact of the latest change is unclear, the Trump administration has tightened rules and made multiple changes to the green card process that critics say have made obtaining a green card more difficult for applicants.

What Criteria Does a Sponsor Have to Pass?

People who sponsor a family member for a green card must already meet certain financial requirements. Under USCIS rules, a sponsor, joint sponsor or substitute sponsor must prove that their household income is equal to or higher than 125 percent of the U.S. poverty level for their household size. Household size includes the sponsor, any dependents, relatives living in the home and the immigrant being sponsored. Sponsors who are on active U.S. military service and sponsoring a spouse or child face a lower threshold of 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

Sponsors generally demonstrate their financial ability to support an immigrant through documents such as a copy of their individual federal income tax return. They may also provide other supporting documents such as birth certificates, passports or green cards.

What Impact Will the Changes Have?

When announcing the change, USCIS said the privacy release authorizes it to “request information from one or more consumer reporting agencies.” It added that if sponsors have a credit or security freeze on their consumer or credit report files, USCIS may not be able to “access the information necessary to assess the sufficiency of Form I-864.”

It urged sponsors to “expeditiously respond to any requests made to release a credit or security freeze.”

USCIS has not said if sponsors need to meet a minimum credit score, explained what information it might seek from a consumer reporting agency or asked sponsors to include their credit rating in a filed form.

Law firm Arce Immigration Law said in its analysis that how officers will use the information may become clearer as the agency issues further guidance.

“The phrase ‘credit check’ can easily create the impression that immigration sponsors will now be judged like people applying for a mortgage or credit card. The announcement does not go that far,” it added.

Boundless said sponsors should be cautious about drawing conclusions until more guidance is provided.

“Meeting the income and asset requirements has historically given families a relatively clear benchmark to work toward,” Boundless said in a statement on its website. “Now USCIS has opened the door to considering information from consumer reports without telling families what standards it will use. A missed credit card payment, identity theft, or an error on someone’s credit file should not become an unpredictable barrier keeping legally married couples apart.”

Brian Hunt, a counsel at immigration law firm Fragomen, said in a statement provided to Newsweek: “The change here is relatively straightforward: it would require the sponsor to authorize the government immigration agency, USCIS, to obtain the sponsor’s credit score when they apply to sponsor an immigrant.

“The government has not said exactly how it will use the credit score. However, many observers suspect that the information could be used to compile data comparing sponsors’ credit scores with whether the immigrants they sponsor later become dependent on government benefits. That information could potentially be used to inform future regulatory actions.”