NEWS

One day before Proclamation 10973 was set to expire, President Trump signed a new proclamation extending the $100,000 H-1B entry fee for another 12 months and a companion executive order directing USCIS, DOL, and State to weigh employer layoffs when adjudicating H-1B filings. Here is what the two documents actually do, and how they interact with the fee's ongoing court vacatur.

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled September 14, 2026 — the day before DHS's fixed-admission-period rule was scheduled to kick in — that the rule is postponed nationwide while a coalition of universities and unions litigates its legality. Duration of status stays in place for now, but DHS is expected to appeal.

A month after the "Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period" proposal cleared federal review, DHS published the actual notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on September 11, 2026 — with real regulatory text, a live comment docket, and DHS's own estimate of who gets hurt. Here is what the published NPRM says that the earlier OIRA-review stage could not.

A second SEVP broadcast message, issued August 24, 2026, sharpens the CPT crackdown it started twelve days earlier by supplying the bright-line test the first message lacked: CPT must be required for every student in the program, not tied to a course a student could skip and still graduate. UC Berkeley and UC Davis have already paused "Course Credit CPT" applications while they review. Here is what changed, what did not, and what to check before enrolling in a CPT-heavy program.

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled August 21, 2026 that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had no authority to freeze immigrant visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries, vacating the policy and every visa denial based solely on it. Here is what Catholic Legal Immigration Network v. Rubio actually held, which countries were affected, and what changes now for pending employment-based green card cases.

A DHS notice of proposed rulemaking appearing on public inspection August 24, 2026 would add a standalone $103,265 charge to every H-1B cap-subject petition, including advanced-degree-exemption filings — on top of every fee employers already pay, and separate from the unresolved $100,000 fee from Proclamation 10973. Here is what the NPRM actually proposes, who is exempt, and what is still just a proposal.

A USCIS Policy Alert issued August 18, 2026 spells out how officers will apply the new public charge ground of inadmissibility once the 2022 rule is rescinded on September 18, 2026 — reviving a broader, more discretionary totality-of-circumstances test for green card applicants filing Form I-485 on or after that date.

A DHS interim final rule effective August 11, 2026 gives USCIS a formal process to require online-only filing of immigration forms — including, eventually, H-1B petitions and OPT applications. No form is mandatory e-filing yet, but the rule sets the 180-day and 60-day clocks that will decide when one becomes so, plus a new hardship waiver, Form I-936.

A precedential Board of Immigration Appeals decision issued August 13, 2026 abandons 14 years of settled practice: leaving the U.S. on advance parole while a green card application is pending can now count as a "departure" that triggers inadmissibility. Here is what Matter of Delcarmen-Lara changed, who is exposed, and what is still protected.

A DHS final rule published August 10, 2026 closes what the agency calls a too-narrow reading of the "9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee": covered H-1B and L-1 employers must now pay it on every extension petition, including extensions with no change of employer. Here is who is covered, what changed, and when it takes effect.