The New F-1 Rule Ending Duration Of Status: What It Means For Day 1 CPT By Chris Prescott, Partner, PSBP Law On July 17, 2026, DHS published a final rule eliminating “duration of status” (D/S) for F-1 students and replacing it with a fixed period of admission, capped at four years, effective September 15, 2026....
Employment-Based Immigration
Jul272026
On July 2, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published a formal proposed rule to codify the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA). The RIA is a statute that Congress enacted in March 2022, and its core provisions, including investment thresholds and regional center reforms,...
One of the most common questions from EB-5 investors is simple: when do I actually get my green card? The answer depends on a recurring checkpoint that shapes the entire timeline: the visa bulletin, combined with a variety of different USCIS applications, each playing its own role along the way. Understanding what each of these...
Jul172026
If you’re an international student, exchange visitor, or foreign media professional in the United States, a major change to how you’re admitted is coming this fall. On July 17, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule that eliminates “Duration of Status” (D/S) for F (academic student), J (exchange visitor), and I...
A Department of Homeland Security final rule that would eliminate “Duration of Status” (D/S) for F-1 students (also J-1 visa holders) has now cleared the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OMB cleared the rule (RIN: 1653-AA95) on June 17, 2026, the last procedural step before publication in the Federal Register. The rule is...
Last month USCIS issued a controversial memo suggesting that Adjustment of Status was a form of extraordinary relief and that individuals wanting to pursue a green card should leave the US to Consular Process. As you can imagine this memo sparked fear and chaos throughout the immigration community and many Attorneys started to talk about...
For employers sponsoring their employees for a green card, demonstrating ability to pay the offered wage has always been one of the requirements. However, although we typically address this with our clients at the outset, during the PERM stage, actually demonstrating the ability to pay does not usually come into play until the I-140 stage. ...
In a long-awaited decision, a federal judge has declared the Trump administration’s attempt to impose a $100k fee on certain H-1B workers to be unlawful. Last September, the immigration community was shell-shocked when the Trump administration announced a $100k fee applicable to certain H-1B workers. Practitioners, employers, and employees initially scrambled to understand what the...