On September 18, 2026, the Trump administration issued two H-1B related executive orders/proclamations: The first was a renewal of the previous $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions requiring consular notification and subsequent admission to the United States: “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers”. The previous executive order in this vein was deemed unlawful by a federal district court decision. (This is summarized here: “Federal court decisions invalidate both t

Update as of September 8, 2026: Due to litigation filed against the form change with no notice, USCIS revised the effective date for when the new form will be required, and will continue to accept the pre-existing 10/17/24 edition of Form I-864/I-864EZ and I-864A until October 1, 2026. As of October 1, 2026, USCIS will only accept the 08/24/26 edition. On August 31, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new edition of Form I-864/I-864EZ and I-864A,

Update: On September 11, 2026, USCIS published a proposed rule to change its regulations to eliminate the discretionary up to 60 day grace period: Federal Register :: Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period. USCIS is accepting comments on this rule until November 10, 2026. +++ On August 27, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of a regulation to eliminate the 60-day grace period granted to individuals in nonimmigrant status whose empl

The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrant workers as a class of aliens eligible to request employment authorization under the (c)(26) category. This proposal would reverse the changes made in the 2015 final rule, "Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses," and restore DHS's long-standing policy of not extending eligibility to request employment authorization to H-4 depe

On August 18, 2026, the Department of State (DOS) announced the expansion of its voluntary pilot program to test B nonimmigrant visa expedited appointments at select U.S. embassies and consulates through December 31, 2026. In addition to Mission Mexico (embassy and all consulates), the program is now expanded to include Mission Canada (embassy and all consulates) and the embassies in Bogota, Guatemala City, San Jose, and Tegucigalpa. Under the pilot program, eligible applican

On August 18, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is issuing updated guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual explaining how the agency will determine whether an individual applying for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence is likely at any time to become a public charge. USCIS said that a completed Form I-864 Affidavit of Support is no longer sufficient on its own, and that USCIS will considers various factors when making public

On August 19, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will publish a revised edition of Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (edition date: 09/18/26). The 09/18/26 edition of Form I-485 will replace the 01/20/25 edition. USCIS said the form has been revised to align with the recently announced Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility final rule. USCIS is providing a preview version of the 09/18/26 edition o

On August 21, 2026, in Catholic Legal Immigration Network v. Rubio, the federal district court for the Southern District of New York struck down the Trump administration’s suspension in January 2026 of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries. The court held that the policy is contrary to law and was issued in excess of Secretary Rubio’s statutory authority. The court therefore vacated the policy under the Administrative Procedure Act. The judgment also vacated any ref

On August 24, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed establishing a $103,265 fee for all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. The number of cap-subject H-1B visas (or grants of status) issued annually is limited to 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for aliens who have earned a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education. The proposed fee would be paid at the time of filing, and woul

New USCIS public charge rule and new edition of Form I-485 On July 16, 2026, USCIS published a final rule that changes how USCIS will analyze whether an applicant is inadmissible as a public charge, or financial burden on the United States. USCIS officers will be permitted to find inadmissibility due to public charge, even if the relating Form I-864 affidavit of support meets the 125% poverty line threshold. As part of the new rule, USCIS will be updating the Form I-485 editi

As of late July 2026, there have been numerous reports of foreign nationals engaged in wholly domestic travel being detained by ICE based on information from TSA. Foreign nationals who do not physically possess a valid, unexpired I-94 admission record may be at higher risk. Reports of detentions have been received from the following airports: · Texas: Austin and Houston, TX · Maryland: Baltimore, MD · Massachusetts: Boston, MA · Illinois: Chicago, IL

Update: As the lawsuit resulted in an injunction being issued against the rule on September 14, 2026, the elimination of D/S will not be going into effect on September 15, 2026. Update: On August 18, 2026, a coalition of organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. district court in Massachusetts challenging the final rule. The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration explained in a press release that the complaint argues that the final rule violates the Administ

On June 8, 2026, in California v Mullin, a federal district court found the $100,000 fee imposed by Presidential Proclamation 11011 to be invalid and vacated the proclamation imposing it. (See our prior news posting: USCIS Clarifies the $100,000 H-1B Fee.) On June 18, 2026, the Trump administration filed an appeal of that decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeal. Other lawsuits against the $100,000 fee remain pending. (See our prior news postings: U.S. Chamber of Comme

On May 22, 2026, USCIS announced a new policy memorandum radically changing the agency’s posture toward adjustment of status as a path for US immigration. Under this new policy, USCIS expects most nonimmigrants present in the United States on a temporary visa status to apply for consular immigrant visa processing to immigrate. This requires applicants to return to their home country for interview at a U.S. consulate. The new memo advises against grants of adjustment absent

On March 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed rule to increase prevailing wage levels applicable to H-1B and PERM programs. DOL proposes to revise how prevailing wages are calculated to raise the required minimum wages to be offered in both the H-1B and PERM processes. The main proposal is to raise the Level 1-4 wages from the 17th, 34th, 50th, and 67th percentiles, to the 34th, 52nd, 70th, and 88th percentiles, with an alternate proposal to calibr

On January 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that it is suspending immigrant visa processing for nationals of certain countries due to higher risk of these nationals being inadmissible as a "public charge." The announcement lists nationals of the following countries being affected: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Camb

On December 23, 2025, a district court judge in the District of Columbia denied the US Chamber of Commerce's motion for a preliminary injunction or summary judgement against the presidential proclamation creating a $100,000 fee for certain new H-1B petitions. This lawsuit is Chamber of Commerce v. DHS , and is the second of two pending lawsuits . An earlier filed lawsuit , Global Nurse Force v. Trump , remains pending with the district court in the Northern District of Calif

USCIS released a final rule that will be published on December 29, 2025, to implement the prevailing wage weighted selection process for H-1B registrations. The rule takes effect before the FY2027 registration lottery in April 2026. The final rule is essentially unchanged from the proposed rule that was summarized in our prior news posting of September 24, 2025. H-1B registrations will be required to submit the highest Occupational Employment Wage and Statistics (OEWS)

On December 16, 2025, President Trump issued another "travel ban" proclamation: Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States – The White House . This proclamation is effective on January 1, 2026 (at 12:01 a.m. EST) and adds more countries to the list. As of the effective date, the expanded list of fully travel banned countries is as follows (with newly added countries in bold): Afghanistan Burma Burkina Faso Chad Repub

Starting December 15, 2025, the Department of State will apply e xpanded screening and vetting for H-1B and dependent H-4 visa applicants. This expanded vetting had already been put place for F, J, and M visa applicants earlier in 2025. All applicants for H-1B,H-4, F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public.” Also, DS160s must be submitted sufficiently in advance for DOS to review and implement