An employee who enters the United States in L-1B status and later gets promoted into a managerial or executive role can often go through an L-1B to L-1A conversion. That conversion matters because of how differently the two categories are capped. L-1B status tops out at five years total, while L-1A status...
The visa bond requirement for certain B-1/B-2 applicants is no longer a temporary experiment. On August 3, 2026, the State Department published a final rule, effective immediately, that makes the visa bond program a permanent part of the visitor visa process. The original version of this program launched as a one-year pilot...
On July 8, 2026, the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General announced a nationwide initiative to investigate fraud and strengthen compliance oversight across employment-based visa programs. This is a separate effort from Project Firewall, the H-1B enforcement initiative the Wage and Hour Division launched last September. The OIG's initiative casts a...
Not every traveler faces the same risk when flying within the United States, and it's a mistake to assume a rule protecting one person applies equally to everyone. What TSA shares with ICE, how a traffic stop plays out in a high-enforcement state, and what you should be carrying with you all...
USCIS announced this policy update on August 5, 2026, stating that officers may deny benefit requests without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) when required initial evidence or eligibility has not been established at filing. In practice, this means USCIS is holding benefit requestors...
A quiet policy shift is changing how immigration enforcement finds people who may have overstayed their authorized period of admission, and employers with foreign national employees should be paying attention. Reports have surfaced of a previously undisclosed agreement, signed in May 2025, between the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
International students thinking about an EB-5 investment as their path to a green card now have an added layer of timing to work through. With the end of duration of status taking effect September 15, 2026, F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors will move from an open-ended admission tied to their program...
E-Verify has historically been something universities, nonprofits, and other federally funded institutions dealt with only if they also held a federal contract carrying the specific FAR clause requiring it. A sweeping proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget would change that, tying E-Verify participation directly to federal grant funding itself,...
The Wall Street Journal reported on July 30, 2026 that the administration is considering a $100,000 fee tied to Optional Practical Training, the program that lets international students work in the United States for one to three years after graduating from a U.S. university. It's important to be precise about what this...
A new report reveals that immigration agents are now detaining foreign nationals with expired visas directly at airport check-in counters and arrival gates, a shift from prior practice. Some of these individuals include spouses of U.S. citizens who were previously in a legal gray area while awaiting extensions or green card decisions.
