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12/25/2025 - $100,000 H-1B Fee Upheld in Court
Under Trump's Presidential Proclamation No. 10973, any H-1B petition that is approved under consular processing requires payment of a $100,000 fee (with very limited exceptions). Several companies and organizations have sued DHS over the agency's implementation of this rule. In a significant setback, a district court judge has dismissed one such lawsuit by the Chamber of Commerce and the Association of American Universities. The Obama-appointed judge held that Congress gave the President very broad authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f) to put limits on certain types of immigration. The proclamation is set to expire on September 20, 2026 on its own terms, but could be extended. [link]

12/24/2025 - DHS Revamps H-1B Cap Procedures for March 2026
USCIS has issued a Final Rule revising the H-1B cap lottery. As before, the system will be beneficiary-centric, so that a beneficiary's odds of cap selection would not increase by filing through multiple employers. However, under the revision, the beneficiary will get 4 lottery tickets if the prospective employer is offering Level IV OES wages, 3 tickets for Level III wages, 2 tickets for Level II wages, and 1 ticket for Level 1 wages. A federal judge previously blocked the first Trump administration's attempt to implement a wage preference system for the lottery. The new proposal is unlike the prior proposal because this version does not completely shut out Level I and II wage earners. Rather, it reduces their odds of selection. One major change is that each H-1B registration must include the SOC code, OES wage level, and area of employment for the beneficiary's job. If multiple employers file for a beneficiary, USCIS will use the lowest wage level across those filings as the beneficiary's lottery weight (1, 2, 3 or 4). The rule will be in effect this upcoming March 2026 H-1B registration period. As a result, the entire cap filing process will be different. In the past, employers could process a registration without worrying about the wage, worksite address, title, or relevance of the employee's education/experience, but all of those must now be considered with cap registrations. Click here for a detailed summary of the new H-1B cap system. [link]

12/23/2025 - DOS Pauses Diversity Visa Issuance
In response to the shootings at Brown University and MIT, perpetrated by a green card holder who received an immigrant visa under the diversity lottery, DOS announced it has stopped issuing visas to Diversity Visa (DV) applicants. Applicants can still submit applications and attend scheduled interviews. DOS will continue scheduling appointments without rescheduling or canceling existing ones. This temporary policy does not affect visas that have already been issued. [link]

12/19/2025 - January Visa Bulletin Issued
The Department of State has issued the January 2026 Visa Bulletin. Priority dates are virtually unchanged since the December 2025 Visa Bulletin. USCIS has confirmed that all employment-based adjustment of status applicants and family-based applicants should use the "Dates for Filing" chart. The effective cut-off for adjustment of status filings under EB-3 India is August 15, 2014. Also, the filing cutoff for EB-2 India remains at December 1, 2013. The cutoff for EB-1 India has progressed to August 1, 2023. Adjustment applicants with aging out children should be very careful because recent policy changes have made the application of the CSPA very complex, especially in cases where a priority date is current under the "Dates for Filing" chart but not the "Final Action Dates" chart. [link]

12/18/2025 - DOS Postpones H-4 and H-1B Visa Appointments
The DOS has begun implementing expanded background-screening measures to conduct "online presence reviews" for H-1B and H-4 applicants. The social media screening will seek out expressions of anti-American sentiment, support for terrorism, or political extremism. This is a troubling development as it could be used to bar visa applicants who bear no security risk but simply hold political views that the administration finds objectionable. Because these reviews are manual and resource-intensive, consulates are experiencing substantial processing slowdowns, prompting widespread appointment cancellations and rescheduling into 2026 to manage the increased workload. Many H-1B and H-4 visa interview appointments originally scheduled for December 2025 and later have been abruptly rescheduled. Some affected applicants have been able to secure emergency appointments, particularly when they have school-age children who are impacted by the delay. Those applying for visa stamping in the near future should be aware of the potential for long delays. [link]

12/11/2025 - USCIS Issues Form I-140G for Trump Gold Card Filings
USCIS has launched Form I-140G, the Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program. Applicants are required to register on trumpcard.gov and obtain confirmation of acceptance before submitting Form I-140G. The filing fee is $15,000 per person, covering the principal applicant as well as any eligible spouse and children. The program allows foreign nationals to secure U.S. residency through a $1 million “gold card” visa, while a proposed $5 million “platinum” option is being developed that would permit holders to remain in the United States for up to 270 days annually without U.S. tax liability on foreign-source income. Gold card applicants would qualify under the EB-1A extraordinary ability or EB-2 exceptional ability/NIW categories. [link]

12/3/2025 - USCIS Places Temporary Hold on all Applications for Nationals of 19 Countries
In response to Trump's social media post complaining about immigration from "third world countries," USCIS has issued a memo placing a temporary hold on all pending benefit applications for people from the 19 countries named in Presidential Proclamation 10949. It also directs a re-review of all approved benefit requests for people from those 19 countries who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 (Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela). Another memo states that USCIS may use citizenship from one of these countries as a significant negative factor in the adjudication of discretionary benefit requests (such as filings of Form I-485 or Form I-129). In addition, the Department of Status has paused all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports as of November 28, 2025.