News

On Monday, June 8, 2026, a Federal District Court judge ruled that the September 19, 2025 White House Proclamation regarding the $100,000 H-1B fee was unconstitutional and vacated it - that is, the judge rendered the proclamation void. The judge found that the $100,000 fee amounted to being a tax that the President imposed. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the exclusive authority to issue a tax unless it delegates that authority to someone else. In this case, Congress did not delegate that authority to the President. The judge found that the statutes from which the President arguably drew his...

On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued a Policy Memo emphasizing the discretionary nature of Adjustment of Status.

Adjustment of Status (AOS) is the option for someone seeking legal permanent residence in the U.S. (i.e., green card) to change from their existing nonimmigrant status in the U.S. (e.g., F-1 international student, H-1B specialty occupation worker, L-1 intracompany transferee, or even B-2 tourist) to that of permanent residency so long as they have been maintaining their legal status in the U.S. since their last entry and meet a number of health, security, and financial criteria. This has been beneficial to many...

When individuals desire to enter the United States, whether for business, work, school, pleasure, or any other purpose, one must have a stated purpose and often an employer or family sponsor. Other than Canadians who are “visa exempt” and certain visitors using the ESTA program, individuals must apply and obtain a nonimmigrant visa stamp/sticker in their passports before entering the United States. The application process includes an interview to determine whether the individual’s application meets the specific requirements of the nonimmigrant visa classification. Background checks have been standard procedure, but the Department of State (DOS) is now explicitly requiring certain...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a proposed rule for the public to review and comment over the next 60 days. The DHS made this rule effective right away despite the comment period. The rule removes the requirement that religious workers leave the U.S. for one year when they reach their five-year limit in the U.S.

Currently, individuals coming to the U.S. to serve as a religious worker for a non-profit religious organization may qualify for the R-1 nonimmigrant visa. This allows individuals to enter and work in the U.S. for up to five years. If they change employers...

This morning, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced via X that they will pause immigrant visa processing for 75 countries, citing abuse of public assistance programs. The pause will take effect on January 21, 2026. No further official guidance has been released yet, but news reports indicate that the countries subject to the pause will include Brazil, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, and others.

Individuals can seek permanent residence (green card) in the U.S. through different routes, with each route consisting of multiple steps. Generally, the last step of each route consists of either filing an application stateside with...

What is an H-1B?

The U.S. immigration system offers a range of nonimmigrant statuses, or types of permission, for people to be in the U.S. The H-1B is one such status that allows individuals to work in a “specialty occupation” for a U.S. employer. A specialty occupation carries duties that cannot be done by someone without a college or university degree in a specific field of study. The employer must also pay a certain wage, but employers do not have to show a shortage of U.S. workers for the position.

Individuals who have jobs or job offers from U.S. employers...