NEWS

A DHS final rule published October 14, 2026 makes permanent a 2025 interim rule that stripped the automatic work-authorization extension from most timely-filed EAD renewals. Adjustment-of-status and H-4 filers are the ones exposed; F-1 OPT and STEM OPT extensions run under a separate regulation and are not touched.

A notice of proposed rulemaking published October 14, 2026 would delete the regulation requiring USCIS to defer to its own prior approval when adjudicating a same-employer, same-facts extension. DHS says the rule improperly shifted the burden of proof off petitioners; practitioners say the real effect is thousands more RFEs on routine H-1B and L-1 renewals.

At an October 8, 2026 White House Fraud Task Force event, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and Vice President JD Vance announced that the Department of Labor is suspending new and pending PERM labor-certification filings from Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini. Here is what that does and does not do to a pending green card case.

Yes — JPMorgan Chase is the largest H-1B user among major U.S. financial firms, with 2,440 new H-1B approvals in FY 2025. But the bank's own early-career program postings say they carry no OPT or CPT support, so how you enter matters.

A notice of proposed rulemaking published October 8, 2026 would require every SEVP-certified school to pay $70,000 before recommending a student for initial OPT, and $30,000 before recommending any subsequent period, including the STEM OPT extension. Here is what the NPRM actually proposes, who pays, and what is still just a proposal.

Yes — and it is one of the few big tech employers that grew its H-1B sponsorship while others pulled back. Nvidia was approved for 563 new H-1B workers in FY 2025, up from 376 the year before, and CEO Jensen Huang has told staff the company will keep sponsoring and cover all associated fees.

On September 30, 2026, a federal judge in California vacated the agency guidance implementing the $100,000 H-1B fee for a second time, ruling that DHS, State, and USCIS skipped notice-and-comment rulemaking. The order reaches the renewed proclamation signed September 18 — but it stops short of ruling on the proclamation itself, leaving that fight for later.

Yes — Apple is one of the largest H-1B sponsors in the country. It was approved for 823 new H-1B workers and 4,610 continuing-employment petitions in FY 2025,

For the first time, four U.S. tech companies took every one of the top four places for new H-1B approvals. Amazon alone was approved for 4,644 new H-1B workers in FY 2025 — roughly three times Meta, the next-largest sponsor. Here is the full picture, including where Apple and Tata Consultancy Services landed, and how F-1 students on OPT fit in.

Department of Labor data for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 shows OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia increasing certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications year over year, while Google's filings fell 64%, Amazon's 30%, and Microsoft's 20%. Here is what the numbers show — and what they do and do not tell job seekers.