How the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Simplified Section 508 Compliance with PDFix

Turning Complex Accessibility Workflows into Scalable Compliance

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, handles an immense daily volume of official forms and publications – all of which must comply with Section 508 accessibility standards under the Rehabilitation Act.

Faced with thousands of PDFs originating from Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, and other sources, USCIS confronted a significant challenge: ensuring consistent, compliant, and accessible PDF output across its document ecosystem. Manual remediation proved too slow, error-prone, and dependent on specialized expertise that most contributors did not possess.

The Challenge

• Inconsistent PDF exports from varied tools
• Manual remediation requiring advanced technical skills
• Bottlenecks in review cycles delaying document release
• Limited in-house accessibility training and certification

USCIS needed a scalable, user-friendly tool to automate tagging and remediation, empower non-technical staff, and maintain Section 508 compliance without reliance on external vendors.

The Solution: PDFix Desktop

USCIS implemented PDFix Desktop Pro, a powerful solution designed to automate PDF accessibility and simplify compliance workflows. Key capabilities included:

• Intelligent Auto-Tagging – Automatically recognizes document structure and applies correct tags for logical reading order
• Built-In PDF Accessibility Checker – veraPDF validates against Section 508 requirements
• Auto-Fix – Corrects detectable accessibility errors automatically
• Comprehensive Validation Reports – Generate exportable summaries of accessibility status
• Batch Processing – Processes multiple PDFs in seconds, streamlining large-scale operations

The Results

The impact of PDFix Desktop Pro at USCIS was both immediate and measurable:

• Reduction in manual remediation
• Faster error resolution through built-in validation and auto-fix
• Improved document consistency and quality across departments
• Reduced reliance on third-party remediation providers
• Confidence and independence for non-technical staff managing compliance

Outcome

With PDFix Desktop Pro, USCIS transformed its accessibility approach from manual and reactive to automated and proactive – ensuring every document meets Section 508 and PDF/UA standards while saving time, resources, and effort.

Read the full case study: How USCIS Simplified Accessibility and Section 508 Compliance with PDFix Desktop