Applicants pursuing a green card through a U.S. embassy or consulate are running into an unexpected roadblock this fall. A State Department official confirmed on August 25, 2026, that immigrant visa interview appointments have been paused across posts worldwide so that consular officers can go through additional training — leaving many families...
On August 24, 2026, DHS announced a proposed rule that would add a new $103,265 fee to all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on August 25, 2026. This is not the same as the $100,000...
A pattern reported by immigration attorneys earlier this year is worth flagging for any H-1B employer or employee who travels internationally while working remotely. Officers at the CBP preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi reportedly began asking H-1B travelers pointed questions about remote work performed while outside the United States, and in at...
At a glance
Moderna and Merck's mRNA melanoma vaccine, intismeran autogene, succeeded in a late-stage trial announced August 19–20, 2026. The underlying mRNA science traces to Katalin Karikó, a Hungarian immigrant and 2023 Nobel laureate. Moderna was co-founded by Noubar...
A proposed rule that would eliminate the 60-day grace period for nonimmigrant workers whose employment ends is now under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget, the last stop before a rule can be published for public comment. The rule, tracked under RIN 1615-AD22, would affect E-1, E-2, E-3,...
A fee that used to apply only to new H-1B and L-1 petitions is about to reach a much larger group of filings. Homeland Security has finalized changes to the 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee, closing an exemption that let companies avoid the charge simply by keeping an employee on staff...
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...
With FY 2027 H-1B petitions filed and the lottery selection process behind them, it's tempting for HR and global mobility teams to treat the cap season as finished until next spring's registration window. The stretch between filing and the October 1 start date is actually one of the more consequential planning windows...
The $100,000 H-1B fee is off the table again, at least for now. On July 24, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied the government's request to keep the fee in effect while its appeal continues, finding that the administration had not shown it was likely to succeed...
For years, an H-1B worker who lost a job and wanted to build something of their own faced a hard choice: find a new employer fast, or leave the country. Starting a company was treated as a distraction from the immigration emergency, not a real option. A change to the H-1B regulations...
