DOL proposes Rule to dramatically increase wage obligations for Employers
On March 27, 2026, the Department of Labor introduced the Proposed Rule, “Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals in the United States,” which would dramatically increase wage obligations for employers sponsoring H-1B/E-3 workers and green card applicants under the PERM program.
For background, the Department of Labor uses four wage levels within each occupation and metropolitan area to determine how much a foreign worker should be paid under the H-1B/E-3 and PERM programs. These determinations are based on the worker’s education, work experience, supervision of workers, and other job duties. Current regulations require that entry-level foreign workers under Wage Level I earn wages at the 17th percentile within their occupation; Level II workers with more experience must earn wages at the 34th percentile, Level III workers should meet the 50th percentile, and Level IV workers should meet the 67th percentile.
Under the Proposed Rule, the Department of Labor would increase the percentile requirements as follows:
Level I: from 17th to 34th
Level II: from 34th to 52nd
Level III: from 50th to 70th
Level IV: from 67th to 88th
The Department of Labor states that these wage level increases “aim to better align prevailing wage levels with the wages paid to U.S. workers who are similarly employed in the occupation and area of intended employment.” However, these increases will likely result in wage requirements for foreign workers that are substantially higher than what comparable US workers are paid in the same occupation and metropolitan area, making the employment of foreign workers at comparable wages much more difficult.
The Department of Labor will accept public comments on the Proposed Rule until May 26, 2026. To read the Proposed Rule and leave a comment, see the Federal Register website here.
Cap season update
On March 31, 2026, USCIS announced that it had received enough registrations to reach the annual cap on H-1B petitions, and that it had selected and notified enough beneficiaries to reach the cap. Employers with selected beneficiaries will have from April 1 to June 30, 2026 to file an H-1B petition with USCIS for a start date of October 1, 2026.
Anecdotal reports currently show that selection rates are significantly higher than in past years, caused by fewer overall lottery registrations. The fewer registrations are likely due to President Trump’s $100,000 H-1B payment for petitions requiring consular processing and the change to a weighted lottery selection this year.
USCIS may run a second lottery at the end of this initial H-1B petition filing period. If this occurs, all previous registrants not selected in the initial round of the lottery will be automatically entered into the second lottery, and registrants will be similarly notified of their selection.
If you require assistance with filing an H-1B petition for a worker selected in the cap lottery, please contact us at info@iandoli.com to set up a consultation.
From The Wall Street Journal: “The Toll the Trump Administration’s Visa Bans and Freezes have Taken on Africa’s Best and Brightest Students”
In a March 24, 2026 article by reporter Caroline Kimeu, The Wall Street Journal analyzed how the Trump Administration’s travel bans have significantly disrupted the educational opportunities of students from African countries. Of the 39 countries on President Trump's travel ban list, 27 are in Africa. Kimeu highlights the experience of Majok Bior, a South Sudanese student at Duke University who has been barred from re-entering the US and continuing his studies since he traveled home in 2024 for winter break. Read the WSJ article here.
Bipartisan legislation, Keep Innovators in America Act, introduced to codify Optional Practical Training and allow F-1 students with pending green card applications to maintain F-1 status
On March 19, 2026, a bipartisan group of legislators introduced the Keep Innovators in America Act, which would codify currently existing DHS regulations that allow international students up to one year of employment authorization under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. Under the current regulations, F-1 students are eligible for one year of OPT in connection to their recent completion of their higher education program; however, DHS may withdraw those regulations and require that F-1 students change status or leave the US at the end of their programs. Congress’s codification of the OPT program would protect the program from future withdrawal.
This bill has not yet picked up significant support in the House of Representatives or Senate. We will continue to provide updates on this legislation as they come.
Read NAFSA: Association of International Educator’s press release and summary of the bill here.
USCIS authorizes new organization to issue credentials for immigrant healthcare workers
On March 27, 2026, USCIS announced in the Federal Register that they have approved a new credentialing organization, The Evaluation Company (TEC), to issue healthcare credentials for certain immigration workers. TEC is now authorized to issue certifications and certified statements for noncitizens looking to work in the US as nurses, practical nurses, and vocational nurses. See the Federal Register notice here.
Bipartisan legislation, H-1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act, introduced to exempt physicians/healthcare workers from $100k H-1B payment
On March 17, 2026, a bipartisan group of legislators introduced the H-1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act, which would exempt physicians and healthcare workers from President Trump’s $100,000 payment requirement for certain H-1B workers. For more information on the $100,000 fee, see our previous post here. As noted by the American Medical Association, international medical graduates makes up about one quarter of practicing physicians in the United States and often work in medically underserved areas throughout the country.
"The $100,000 filing fee for H-1B petitions adds significant costs for hospitals and private practices, making it more difficult to hire physicians and other health care professionals,” states the American Medical Association. “The added cost will worsen shortages, increase wait times, and force patients to travel farther for care.”
The text of the bill is as follows: “(a) The restriction imposed, pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation entitled ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ . . . shall not apply with respect to any such alien who is employed (or has received an offer of employment) in the health care workforce (as such term in defined in §5101 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) . . . (b) No fee may be imposed on an alien described in subsection (a)) that exceeds the fee set forth in § 214(c)(9)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act [].”
This bill has not yet picked up significant support in the House of Representatives or Senate. We will continue to provide updates on this legislation as they come.
Read the bill here and the American Medical Association’s press release here.
TPS updates for March 2026: Haiti and Yemen
Haiti: On February 2, 2026, a federal district court judge in Washington, D.C. temporarily blocked TPS termination for Haitians. TPS for Haitians was set to end on February 3, 2026, but the court order indefinitely postpones the termination. See the updated information available on the USCIS website here.
Yemen: On February 13, 2026, USCIS announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had terminated TPS for Yemen. The termination is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on March 3, 2026. Monitor the USCIS website here for publication of the last day of TPS status for Yemeni nationals.
Lawsuit filed against Trump Administration for 75-country immigrant visa ban
On February 2, 2026, several US citizens and immigration and legal organizations sued the Trump Administration for its January 14, 2026, immigrant visa (green card) approval ban for consular posts in 75 countries. See our previous post about the ban here, which is based on a public charge argument that individuals from these 75 countries are more likely to become dependent on public benefits like Medicaid and SNAP. The lawsuit, CLINIC v. Rubio, asserts that the ban’s public charge basis is “‘unsupported and demonstrably false,’”* as most of the affected would-be new green card holders will not become eligible for public benefits for years. *CLINIC v. Rubio (via The New York Times). The lawsuit instead asserts that the public charge rationale is a stand-in for previous race-based immigrant visa quotas that were abolished during the Civil Rights Movement.
Read an overview of CLINIC v. Rubio from the National Immigration Law Center (with a link to the lawsuit complaint) here and a summary from the New York Times here.
Summary of Current Travel Bans from CLINIC
On February 6, 2026, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (“CLINIC”) published an article summarizing the current status of all of the Trump Administration’s travel bans to date. Access the article here.
AILA Practice Pointer: removal of one-year abroad requirement for religious workers
On February 23, 2026, the American Immigration Lawyers Association published a practice pointer on DHS’s January 16, 2026 Interim Final Rule that removes the one-year abroad requirement for religious workers seeking to extend their stay in the US. See our alert from last month about the Interim Final Rule here. AILA’s practice pointer discusses several aspects of the Interim Final Rule such as when the “five year clock” restarts for the R-1 visa, petition filing timing, potential consular processing issues, applicability to R-2 dependents, and retaining priority dates for religious workers.
Read AILA’s Practice Pointer here.