Visa Bulletin Update - Jan 2026
The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin which operates as the “waiting list” for green cards (immigrant visas), with an individual’s Priority Date serving as their place in line. The Bulletin identifies all immigrant visa “preference” categories and indicates whether a backlog exists for that category. When a backlog exists, an individual in that category may not apply for a green card (or “adjust status”) until their Priority Date becomes “current.” A priority date is current when it is earlier than the date listed in the Visa Bulletin. The Bulletin lists family-based (“FB-”) preference categories and employment-based (“EB-") preference categories. These categories are further separated into two charts: the Final Action Dates chart and the Dates for Filing chart. The Final Action Dates chart indicates whether an individual can expect USCIS to make a decision on their application soon, whereas the Dates for Filing chart, if USCIS chooses to use it that month, indicates whether an individual may file their adjustment application and receive the benefits associated with having a green card application pending with USCIS.
In January 2026, USCIS will be using the Dates for Filing chart for both employment- and family-based preference categories.
The EB-2 and EB-3 preference categories remain backlogged for all countries. The State Department advanced Priority Dates as follows:
EB-1:
China: 2.5 months
India: 3.5 month
EB-2:
Mexico, Philippines, and All Other: 3 months
China: 1 month
India: no change
EB-3: no change
Other Workers:
Mexico, Philippines, and All Other: no change
China: 1 year
India: no change
See the January 2026 Visa Bulletin here.
If you have questions about planning, please schedule a consultation with one of the attorneys at Iandoli, Desai & Cronin (info@iandoli.com).
$100,000 H-1B “Payment” Update: Lawsuit Dismissal and No Movement on National Interest Exemption
In September 2025, President Trump released a Presidential Proclamation imposing a $100,000 “payment” for certain H-1B workers. See our previous update on the payment here.
On December 23, 2025, a Washington, D.C. federal district court judge dismissed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s lawsuit against the Trump Administration for the $100,000 payment. The judge granted summary judgment in favor of the Trump Administration, stating that the Proclamation’s lawfulness “rests on a straightforward reading of congressional statutes giving the President broad authority to regulate entry into the United States for immigrants and nonimmigrants alike.” See the Chamber of Commerce’s dedicated lawsuit page with a link to decision and the Chamber’s appeal of the decision here.
Additionally, as of December 31, 2025, our office has not been informed of USCIS issuing any decision on an employer’s request for a national interest exception to the payment. USCIS has only sent employers an email confirming receipt of their request.
We will continue to provide updates on the $100,000 payment as we receive them.
DHS publishes Final Rule Changing H-1B Lottery Selection Process
On December 29, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published a Final Rule amending the H-1B cap lottery into a weighted selection process. Similar to the Proposed Rule from September 2025, the Final Rule favors registrations for “higher skilled and higher paid” nonimmigrants by allocating more registrations to higher-paid workers. DHS would use the four wage levels from the Department of Labor Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey to allocate more lottery entries to registrants with higher wages. Registrants with Level I wages would receive one entry, Level II wages would receive two entries, Level III wages would receive three entries, and Level IV wages would receive four entries.
The proposed changes will increase the amount of time needed to prepare and submit each H-1B lottery entry, as an analysis of the employer’s offered position and selection of the proper OEWS occupational code and wage level will be required. These changes will likely also impact how companies can sponsor recent college graduates.
See the Final Rule in the Federal Register here , and USCIS’s announcement and comments on the new process here.
J-1 primary care physicians: alternative to Massachusetts Conrad Waiver program
With the January 15 deadline for Massachusetts Conrad Waiver applications quickly approaching, we wanted to remind our colleagues at federally designated Community Health Centers with HPSA scores of 7 or higher that J-1 physicians who are completing, or have recently completed, a primary care residency are generally eligible for a waiver of the two-year home residency requirement through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) waiver program. The HHS waiver has a rolling application process and does not have a cap on the number of waivers that can be granted.
The HHS waiver program webpage is currently down, but it is typically available here.
Important Travel Warning for Indian Nationals Requiring New H-1B/H-4 Visas
On December 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of State announced that it will expand its existing online presence review and social-media screening to include all H-1B specialty occupation visa applicants and their H-4 dependents, effective December 15, 2025. This expansion builds on similar screening already applied to F, M, and J category nonimmigrant visa applicants.
Under the new policy, all H-1B and H-4 visa applicants will be subject to review of their publicly available online presence, including social media profiles and other online information. H-1B and H-4 visa applicants are instructed to set all social media accounts to “public” to facilitate vetting.
Due to this new vetting policy, U.S. consular posts in India began issuing notices to H-1B and H-4 applicants that interviews scheduled on or after December 15, 2025, have been rescheduled—often into March/April 2026. Posts are reducing the number of daily interviews to accommodate the additional vetting associated with the online presence review, creating staffing and scheduling constraints.
We are advising all Indian nationals who require new H-1B and H-4 visas not to travel. Even if your appointment has not been cancelled as of today, it could be cancelled after your departure from the U.S. You may find yourself stuck abroad waiting to be rescheduled for 3-6+ months.
Some applicants are receiving notices from embassies informing them not to show up on their original interview date and instead to attend on the newly assigned appointment. We advise clients to log in to their visa appointment profiles to retrieve updated appointment letters and check message-center notifications for rescheduling updates regularly. Applicants who cannot attend the new date may reschedule online, provided their visa fee receipt is still valid (receipts older than one year are considered expired).
Iandoli Desai and Cronin, PC will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates.
Supreme Court Temporarily Upholds Trump Administration Policy Requiring U.S. Passports to Display Birth Sex
On November 7, 2025, The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily upheld a new Trump Administration policy that requires U.S. passports to display a citizen’s sex at birth. The policy is a reversal from the Biden Administration, which allowed transgender and nonbinary Americans to update their sex on their passports or to use the sex marker “X” to align with their gender identity. Already-existing passports with sex markers issued based on the Biden Administration’s policy will remain valid and do not need to be changed, but all new applications and renewals are subject to the Trump Administration’s policy. See the Supreme Court order here and State Department guidance here.
USCIS Will Review Approvals and Immediately Pause Green Card Applications for Refugees Admitted to the United States from 01/21/2021 to 02/20/2025
On November 25, 2025, USCIS issued an internal memorandum directing the agency to review and potentially re-interview all refugees admitted to the United States from January 21, 2025 to February 20, 2025. The memorandum also ordered USCIS to pause all green card application adjudications for refugees admitted during this time period.
Per the American Immigration Lawyers, Association: “This is a significant and unprecedented large-scale effort to review the cases of people whom the U.S. government has already resettled in the United States after an extensive and thorough adjudication and review process involving refugee experts with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the State Department, and Department of Homeland Security officials, among others. The memo relies upon Executive Order 14163, Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) which suspended the USRAP under Immigration and Nationality Act §§ 212(f) and 215(a), 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a). The memo cites the desire to “only admit refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate into the United States.”
See the alert from the American Immigration Lawyers Association here.
USCIS Announces FY 2026 Inflation Increase for Certain Immigration-Related Fees
On November 20, 2025, USCIS published the inflation-adjusted immigration filing fee increases for Fiscal Year 2026, effective January 1, 2026. The following application fees will increase based on inflation:
Annual Asylum Program Fee
Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization
Initial Asylum Applicant
Initial Parole
Renewal or Extension of Parole
Initial TPS
Renewal or Extension of TPS
Form I-131 (for applicants under Part 9 only (EAD requested upon authorization of new parole period))
Form I-821, Application for TPS
The following fees are also now tied to inflation adjustments but are not increasing for Fiscal Year 2026:
I-589, Application for Asylum (initial)
I-765, Application for Employment Authorization (renewal or extensions for Asylum Applicants)
I-1360, Special Immigration Juvenile Fee
Note that not all USCIS filing fees are tied to inflation; USCIS may increase other filing fees at different intervals and amounts. See the USCIS announcement here.
USCIS Implements New National Security Measures in Light of November 26 DC National Guard Shooting
On November 27, 2025, USCIS announced new guidance for vetting noncitizens from 19 counties deemed “high risk” in a June 4, 2025 Presidential Proclamation. The new guidance was issued in response to the November 26, 2025 shooting of two D.C. National Guard service members by an Afghan recently granted asylum. The new guidance allows adjudicators to consider “negative, country-specific factors” when vetting individuals from the following 19 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. The policy guidance is effective immediately and applies to requests pending or filed on or after November 27, 2025.
See the announcement from USCIS here.
TPS Updates for December 2025: South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, and Burma (Myanmar)
There are four recent developments in Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) designations for Syria, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Burma (Myanmar) .
South Sudan: On November 5, 2025, USCIS announced that DHS Secretary Noem is terminating South Sudan’s designation for TPS. TPS for nationals of South Sudan will now end on January 5, 2025. See the USCIS announcement here.
Syria: On November 19, 2025, a federal district court in New York blocked Noem’s termination of TPS for Syria, which was set to end on November 21, 2025. USCIS has since announced that they plan to appeal the ruling. Employees with an EAD for Syria-based TPS can therefore continue to work pursuant to their EAD and the court order. See the practice alert from the American Immigration Lawyers Association here.
Venezuela: In November 2025, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (“SAVE”) published updated guidance on verifying employment eligibility for Venezuelans holding TPS. The guidance is based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court Order regarding TPS for Venezuela. E-Verify has also been updated accordingly. See the updated guidance here.
Haiti: On November 26, 2025, USCIS announced that Noem will be terminating TPS for Haiti. TPS for nationals of Haiti will now end on February 3, 2026. See the USCIS announcement here.
Burma (Myanmar): On November 24, 2025, USCIS announced that Noem is terminating TPS for Myanmar. TPS for nationals of Burma (Myanmar) will now end on January 26, 2025. E-Verify and SAVE have been updated with guidance on employment verification for these TPS beneficiaries. See the USCIS announcement here.