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...
DHS Proposes $70,000 OPT Fee and $30,000 STEM OPT Fee
One day before it was set to take effect, a federal district court blocked the DHS rule ending “duration of status” (D/S) for F-1, J-1, and I nonimmigrants. On September 14, 2026, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV (D. Mass.) entered a nationwide preliminary injunction barring DHS and ICE from implementing the rule while the litigation...
On September 11, 2026, DHS published a new rule in the Federal register titled “Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period,” with comments due 60 days later, which puts the deadline at November 10, 2026. The short version: if this rule is finalized as drafted, a nonimmigrant worker whose employment ends is out of status and...
Last October I wrote about the Supreme Court declining to hear Save Jobs USA v. DHS, and I said at the time that the decision did nothing to stop a future administration from revisiting the program through new regulatory action. That is exactly what is now happening. DHS has placed a rule on the Unified...
Aug242026
On August 25, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would impose a $103,265 fee on H-1B cap-subject petitions. The timing is not a coincidence. It comes one month after the First Circuit refused to let the government reinstate the $100,000 fee created by last September’s presidential...
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,...