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

The Trump administration recently issued two policy memoranda with the objective of delaying or halting processing of certain immigration benefit application types, or all application types for certain foreign nationals. USCIS Policy Alert PA-2025-26 issued on November 27, 2025 instructs officers to treat country-specific factors described in the June 4, 2025, Presidential Proclamation 1 0949 (PP10949 or travel ban proclamation) as significant negative factors in discretion

Of the two lawsuits filed against the $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lawsuit has advanced more quickly. There may be a summary judgment decision as early as late December 2025.  If the judge finds the presidential proclamation unlawful, the benefit of the decision may be limited to U.S. Chamber of Commerce members, due to an earlier Supreme Court decision limiting the scope of injunctions.   Given this possibility, employers should consider j

Effective October 16, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began imposing a $1,000 fee for individuals paroled into the U.S., or are physically in the U.S. and are granted parole or re-parole, unless they qualify for one of ten (10) specified exceptions. For applicants subject to the fee and who are not exempt, payment is collected either by USCIS—through a “Pay Now” notice issued before approval for cases filed within the U.S.—or by CBP at a port of entry during i

As of October 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has officially resumed processing employer requests for prevailing wage determinations  and labor certification determinations  for both temporary and permanent employment  in the United States.  According to the announcement released late Friday, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC)  has restored full access to the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG)  system. Employers and stakeholders can now:  Prep

On October 29, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an interim final rule that eliminates the “receipt rule” for certain Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewals. Effective October 30, 2025, filing Form I-765 for EAD renewal will no longer trigger an automatic extension of work authorization.  Who’s Affected   This change primarily impacts  H-4 dependent spouses, I-485 based EADs,  and asylee EAD holders .  Premium processing is not available  for th

On October 20, 2025, USCIS clarified that the new $100,000 fee established by Presidential Proclamation does not apply to:  Any previously issued and currently valid H-1B visas, or any H-1B visa petitions submitted prior to 12:01a.m. EST on September 21, 2025  Any holder of a current H-1B visa, or any alien beneficiary following petition approval, who travels in and out of the United States.  The guidance further clarifies that the new $100,000 fee does not apply to individ

On October 16, 2025, the US Chamber of Commerce filed a complaint against the $100,000 H-1B fee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In addition to outlining economic and public policy arguments against the proclamation, the complaint charges the proclamation with violating the Immigration & Nationality Act, by exceeding the authority granted by Congress to the executive branch. In addition, the proclamation violates the requirement that fees be based on

On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to hear a case challenging a rule from the Obama administration that allows certain H-4 visa holders—spouses of H-1B workers—to apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).  This class of EAD is available only for H-4 visa holders whose H-1B spouse has an approved I-140 immigrant petition or approved H-1B extension beyond 6 years, and are waiting for their immigrant visa priority date to become “current”.  By decl

On October 3, 2025, a coalition of organizations and individuals—including labor unions, healthcare and education institutions, religious...

The current government funding is set to expire on 9/30/2025 unless Congress and the Trump administration come to terms on passing a...

On September 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  published a rule   outlining a weighted selection process for the...

The White House recently issued clarifying statements, and the DHS published two separate memoranda, further explaining the impact of...

Late on Friday, September 19, 2025, the White House issued a Presidential Executive Order imposing a new H-1B visa fee of $100,000 per...

On August 28, 2025, ICE published a notice of proposed rulemaking  relating to the F “student”, J “exchange visitor”, and I “foreign...

USCIS has recently started issuing Notices to Appear (NTA) to some H-1B nonimmigrants porting their employment during their 60-day grace...

Effective September 2, 2025, the Department of State will update the categories of applicants that may be eligible for a waiver of the...