The September 30, 2026, grandfathering deadline has passed, but the EB-5 calendar is not quiet. Two more dates will shape what an EB-5 investment costs: new USCIS filing fees on November 30, 2026, and the first inflation adjustment to the minimum investment amounts on January 1, 2027. For investors who have not yet filed, the...
Immigration Blog
Oct192026
The September 30, 2026, grandfathering deadline under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) has passed. Investors filing in late 2026 or 2027 can still choose either the direct or regional center path, but regional center petitions filed after the deadline do not carry grandfathering protection and depend on congressional reauthorization of the...
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has finalized a new fee schedule for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program which will take effect on November 30, 2026. USCIS states that the adjustment in fees are intended to ensure EB-5 fees fully recover the cost of operating the program, allow the agency to meet statutory processing time...
DHS has now turned to OPT. In a proposed rule published October 8, 2026, ICE would require schools to pay $70,000 for every F-1 student who receives initial OPT, and another $30,000 for any subsequent OPT period, including the 24-month STEM extension. If the school doesn’t pay, the DSO can’t enter the OPT recommendation in...
When USCIS processing runs long, an H-1B employee’s I-94 can expire while their petition is still pending. In many cases, the employee can keep working legally during that wait, but the employer has to update Form I-9 correctly to show it. The rules depend on what kind of H-1B petition you filed. Below, we walk...
Many people assume you need millions of dollars or a green card to own and run a business in the United States. You don’t. We recently helped an entrepreneur from Canada get an E-2 Treaty Investor visa for himself, his spouse and their two children, so the family can move to Texas and build his...
If you’re a U.S. citizen engaged to or married to someone who lives abroad, there are two main ways to bring your partner to the United States. The K-1 fiancé(e) visa lets your partner enter the U.S. to marry you. The spousal visa is for couples who marry first, and then your spouse arrives as...
We get this question a lot from employers. The certified LCA lists $85,000. The employee has been paid $100,000 for two years. Business slows, a major account goes away, and the employer asks the obvious question: can we go back down to the $85,000 we certified? Usually the answer is no. The LCA wage is...