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...
DHS, DOL, and the State Department released their 2026 regulatory agendas on July 6, giving employers an early look at what's still in the pipeline for the rest of the year and into 2027. The duration of status change and the public charge rescission we've already covered are now finalized. What follows...
On July 17, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master's cap, for fiscal year 2027.
This closes the FY 2027 cap season. Employers...
Effective with the Department of Labor's 7/2026-6/2027 occupational data series, O*NET reclassified Computer Systems Analysts, SOC code 15-1211.00, from Job Zone 3 back to Job Zone 4. It sounds like a small administrative shift, but for employers sponsoring H-1B workers or filing PERM applications in this occupation, it changes the baseline USCIS...
The legal fight over the $100,000 H-1B fee took a dramatic turn in June 2026, and employers need to understand exactly where things stand today. On June 8, 2026, a federal district court in Massachusetts ruled in State of California v. Mullin that the fee was an unlawful tax the executive branch...
