Cap season update: registration is March 4-19, 2026
H-1B cap season is quickly approaching with Fiscal Year 2027 lottery registration scheduled for March 4-19, 2026. As a reminder, this year USCIS is transitioning from a random lottery to a weighted lottery. Under a December 29, 2025, Final Rule, USCIS will favor registrations for “higher skilled” nonimmigrants by allocating more registrations to higher-paid workers. USCIS will 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 will receive one entry, Level II wages will receive two entries, Level III wages will receive three entries, and Level IV wages will 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 if companies will sponsor recent college graduates.
Given this advanced timeline for e-registration and additional complications resulting from the new weighted lottery, employers should decide as soon as possible whether they will register their employee(s) in the H-1B cap lottery. Please feel free to contact the attorneys of Iandoli, Desai & Cronin now with your questions about potential H-1B sponsorship.
Visa Bulletin: EB-2 now current for All Other Countries category and significant advancements in most other categories
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 March 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; however, there are significant advancements in many EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories. Most notably, the EB-2 category is now Current for the Mexico, Philippines, and All Other countries categories (“All Other”). The State Department advanced Priority Dates as follows:
EB-1:
All Other: still Current
China: 4 months
India: 4 months
EB-2:
All Other: 16.5 months (now Current)
China: no change
India: 11 months
EB-3:
All Other: 3.5 months
China: no change
India: no change
Other Workers:
All Other: 6.5 months
China: no change
India: no change
EB-4: 21.5 months
See the March 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 U.S. Senators and Representatives send letter to Secretary Noem urging the healthcare industry’s exemption from Trump’s $100,000 payment requirement for H-1B petitions.
On February 11, 2026, Representatives Clarke and Lawler of New York and 98 other members of Congress sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, urging the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to exempt the healthcare sector from the new $100,000 payment requirement for H-1B petitions that require consular processing. Read our previous posts about the $100,000 payment here.
The congressional letter highlights that “worsening workforce shortages across all health care professional are significantly diminishing access to care in rural and urban communities across the nation” and that “health care organizations must be able to recruit staff in the most cost-effective manner so they can use their financial resources to hire as many caregivers as possible to take care of their communities. Rural hospitals and urban safety net hospitals face uncommon recruitment and retention issues and will most acutely feel the effects of the $100,000 fee. These hospitals rely heavily on the H-1B visa to maintain adequate staffing and offer comprehensive services in high-need areas. 21 million Americans live in areas where foreign-trained physicians account for at least half of all practicing physicians.”
Read the congressional letter to Noem here.
American Council on Education Issue Brief: 2026 immigration-related campus concerns
On February 23, 2026, the American Council on Education published an updated issue brief to assist colleges and universities with responding to the Trump Administration’s numerous immigration policies affecting students, scholar, and employees. The brief provides an introduction and big picture explanation before providing thorough explanations for how colleges and universities can address concerns regarding: students with discretionary status, DACA recipients, other undocumented students, visa applicants, travel bans, and federal enforcement actions.
Access ACE’s immigration issue brief here.
(From NAFSA) New QS report predicts 1% annual decline in international students through 2030.
Late last month, NAFSA: Association of International Educators shared a new Global Student Flows: United States report from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) finding an expected 1% annual decline in international students in the United States through 2030. QS states that the predicted decline is due to “geopolitical shifts, changing visa regimes, labor-market incentives, and cost and demographic pressures.”
Access QS’s new lobal Student Flows: United States report here.
(From NACUA) Fridley Public School District v. Noem challenges immigration enforcement on and near K-12 and college campuses and rescission of previous “sensitive locations” immigration policy
Early last month, the National Association of College and University Attorneys (“NACUA”) shared that the public school districts of Fridley and Duluth, MN and teachers union Education Minnesota sued Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and related immigration officers for the Minnesota ICE surge that negatively impacted both K-12 and college campuses. The lawsuit alleges that Noem, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) , and ICE’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota, in addition to the rescission of previous administrations’ sensitive location policy, violated the Administrative Procedure Act for being arbitrary and capricious, violated immigrants’ rights, created substantial disruption to American citizens’ lives, and caused a chilling effect that undermined students’ access to education. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent DHS from enforcing the new immigration policy and prohibiting immigration enforcement within 1,000 feet of school property or a school bus stop.
On Monday, February 25, 2026, the school districts and teachers union filed a request for an emergency order restoring the previous sensitive locations policy. Their request is still pending with the court at this time.
DHS publishes Interim Final Rule easing immigration restrictions on religious workers
On January 16, 2026, DHS published an Interim Final Rule that would ease immigration restrictions on R-1 nonimmigrant religious workers by removing a one-year waiting period for workers to reside abroad before returning to the United States. If the Rule becomes final, R-1 religious workers will no longer be subjected to any minimum waiting period before renewing their R-1 status, which has long been a hurdle for nonimmigrant religious workers.
Comments are due on the Interim Final Rule on March 17, 2026. For more information, see DHS’s publication in the Federal Register here.
TPS updates for February 2026: Burma (Myanmar), Somalia, and Haiti and Venezuela
Somalia: On January 13, 2026, USCIS announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had terminated TPS for Somalia. TPS for Somalian nationals will now end on March 17, 2026. See the DHS announcement here.
Burma (Myanmar): On January 23, 2026, a federal district court judge in Chicago Illinois temporarily blocked TPS termination for nationals of Burma (Myanmar). TPS for nationals of Burma (Myanmar) was set to end on January 24, 2026. See the updated on the USCIS website here.
Haiti and Venezuela: On January 28, 2026, The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower federal district court ruling that DHS Secretary Noem exceeded her statutory authority when she ended TPS for Haitians and Venezuelans. The Ninth Circuit ruling does not have an immediate impact on TPS for Haiti and Venezuela, as the U.S. Supreme Court previously allowed the terminations to become effective pending a final order from the Supreme Court. A ruling is also expected soon for a similar lawsuit filed in another federal district court in Washington. See Reuters for information on the Ninth Circuit ruling here.
Federal district court temporarily blocks end of family reunification parole program
On January 9, 2026, federal district court judge Indira Talwani issued a temporary pause on the Trump Administration’s end of the Biden-era family reunification parole program for noncitizens from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras. The Trump Administration attempted to end the program in December. See our previous post about the program’s termination here.
Judge Talwani issued the pause on the Trump Administration’s termination based on a failure to provide adequate notice to affected individuals. See reporting from The New York Times on the temporary pause here.
TPS/Parole status update tracker from AILA
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) has published a comprehensive TPS and Parole Status Update Chart to assist attorneys and others in tracking the many updates to TPS and Parole terminations. The chart may be particularly helpful to employers or others who frequently verify employment authorization under different TPS and parole programs. AILA has made the chart publicly available on their website here.