US Immigration Changes 2026 — New Rules & What to Do Now

H-1B $100,000 Proclamation: Blocked, Not Collecting (Updated Oct 6, 2026)

The year's most litigated change began on September 19, 2025, when Presidential Proclamation 10973 imposed a $100,000 payment requirement on certain new H-1B petitions for workers outside the United States — as implemented by USCIS, CBP, and the State Department, it principally hit cases needing consular processing or admission at a port of entry. On September 18, 2026, Proclamation 11069 extended the restriction for 12 more months through September 21, 2027, paired with an executive order directing closer federal review of H-1B filings. But extension is not enforcement: in June 2026 the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the agency policies implementing the fee, and in July 2026 the First Circuit declined to stay that ruling during the government's appeal — so the payment was already unenforced when, on September 30, 2026, the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a second vacatur, finding the agencies likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act by skipping notice-and-comment rulemaking and reasoned decision-making, and barring USCIS, CBP, and State from enforcing the policies until rulemaking and small-business analyses are complete. The court denied a stay pending appeal, with a case-management conference set for October 27, 2026.

Two distinctions keep readers out of trouble. First, the court orders attack the agency implementation policies, not finally the President's underlying statutory authority — litigation continues and requirements could change on appeal. USCIS currently advises that if the orders are lifted, DHS intends to collect the payment, so budget the contingency without paying it now. Second, the separately proposed $103,265 fee for certain H-1B cap-subject petitions is a different animal: a DHS rulemaking whose comment period closed September 24, 2026, with no final rule issued and nothing currently in effect. Background on the visa itself lives in our H-1B visa guide.

What to do now

• Employers filing H-1B petitions: do not submit the $100,000 payment under the blocked policies, but diary the October 27, 2026 case conference and the First Circuit appeal — either could flip the requirement back on.
• Workers abroad needing consular processing: the payment is not currently a condition of your visa or admission; keep consular appointments and carry standard documentation rather than payment proof.
• Budget owners: track the $103,265 rulemaking separately from the proclamation litigation; neither is payable today, but each moves on its own clock.

F-1 Duration of Status Ends: Fixed Admission From Sept 15, 2026

DHS published the final rule on July 17, 2026 (Federal Register document 2026-14439), amending regulations so F, J, and I nonimmigrants are admitted for a fixed time period instead of duration of status, with a stated effective date of September 15, 2026 following the August 28, 2025 proposal. New F admissions run to the program length on the Form I-20 capped at 4 years plus a 30-day departure period (replacing the old 60-day F-1 grace period), anyone needing more time files Form I-539 for an extension of stay with USCIS before the printed Admit Until Date expires, and students admitted under D/S who timely file OPT or STEM OPT on or before March 18, 2027 ride a six-month reprieve from the extension filing. The formal caveat: DHS classified the rule as a major rule subject to congressional review and said it will publish a further document if the effective date changes or the rule is terminated — as of this page's October 6, 2026 check no such change had appeared, but confirm on the Federal Register and Study in the States portal before irreversible plans. Full mechanics — the Admit Until Date math, the November 14, 2030 transition ceiling, unlawful-presence triggers, and J-1 specifics — are covered in our F-1 duration-of-status rule guide.

What to do now

• Current F-1/J-1 students: pull your I-94 today, compare any date on it against your I-20 or DS-2019 program end date, and open the DSO conversation at least six months before the earliest date.
• OPT planners: file inside the March 18, 2027 reprieve window where possible; after it, pair the I-539 extension with the EAD application.
• Never assume D/S protects you past a printed date: with date-certain I-94s, unlawful presence accrues the day after expiry and can trigger 3- and 10-year bars.

Premium Processing Rises to $2,965 From March 1, 2026

USCIS announced on January 9, 2026 that a DHS final rule raises premium processing fees to reflect June 2023–June 2025 inflation (CPI-U up 5.72 percent), effective March 1, 2026. For Form I-129 nonimmigrant worker petitions — including H-1B, L-1, O-1, E, TN, and P categories — and Form I-140 immigrant petitions, the fee moves from $2,805 to $2,965; smaller categories adjust to $1,780 and $2,075 respectively. Requests postmarked on or after March 1, 2026 must carry the new fee on Form I-907, in a separate remittance from other filing fees, and the fee cannot be waived. Employers who calendar premium filings around start dates should confirm current handling volumes on our USCIS processing times page, since the premium clock guarantees a response action, not an approval.

What to do now

• Petitioners: use $2,965 for I-129/I-140 premium requests postmarked March 1, 2026 or later; underpayment means rejection.
• Finance teams: update standing fee schedules and separate-remittance procedures; the old $2,805 figure is dead for new filings.
• Change-of-status and EAD applicants: note the $2,075 and $1,780 tiers for F/J/M change-of-status, dependent extensions, and employment authorization premium requests.

ESTA Fee: $40.27 for FY2026, $40.62 Set for FY2027 (Updated Oct 6, 2026)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1) lifted the ESTA authorization fee to $40 in FY2025 (a $17 travel-promotion + $10 cost-recovery + $13 component stack), and DHS's November 19, 2025 Federal Register notice applied the required inflation adjustment to reach $40.27 for FY2026 ($17 + $10.27 + $13), with denied applications paying only the $10.27 cost-recovery portion. Then, on October 1, 2026 — five days before this page's verification date — a further Federal Register notice set the FY2027 fee at $40.62 (denied-application portion $10.62). Travelers checking today therefore sit on the seam between fiscal years: confirm which fee the official CBP application site charges at checkout before paying, never pay through third-party lookalike sites that add markups (CBP's FAQ specifically addresses over-$40.27 charges), and remember existing approvals do not need re-application for a fee change. Program basics live in our ESTA guide.

What to do now

• Visa Waiver travelers: apply only on the official CBP ESTA site; expect ~$40.27–$40.62 depending on fiscal-year cutover at payment time.
• Denied applicants: you owe only the ~$10 cost-recovery portion, not the full authorization fee.
• Travel planners: existing valid ESTAs remain valid; a fee notice alone is not a reason to re-apply.

H-4 EAD Rescission: Proposal Only, Nothing Changed (Updated Oct 6, 2026)

DHS placed "Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Classes of Noncitizens Eligible for Employment Authorization" (RIN 1615-AD14) on its Unified Agenda as a long-term action with the proposed-rule date listed as To Be Determined — a statement of intent to reverse the 2015 H-4 EAD rule, not a rule. As of October 6, 2026: no proposed rule has published, no comment period is open, no final rule exists, and no card has been revoked. USCIS continues accepting and deciding Form I-765 applications under current (c)(26) H-4 rules. Context counsels seriousness without panic: the same rescission was attempted in the first Trump administration, reached OMB review in February 2019, sat nearly two years unpublished, and was withdrawn in January 2021 — while a long-term listing means DHS itself does not expect action within twelve months, though it can accelerate at any time. Any future rule would still need proposal, comments, finalization, an effective date, and would face litigation; the open design question — whether existing cards run to expiry — has no answer because no draft text is public. Spouses mapping work-authorization risk should read our H-4 approval and validity guide.

What to do now

• Current H-4 EAD holders: keep working on valid cards, renew on normal timelines, and keep every EAD and receipt notice filed.
• Eligible applicants who have not filed: filing under current rules remains available; waiting for clarity cedes time you cannot recover if a rule later issues.
• Households with one income at risk: remove single points of failure now — parallel status options, renewal diaries, and an attorney consult — rather than during a comment-period scramble.

H-1B FY2027 Registration Recap: $215, March 4–19, Selection Done

USCIS announced on January 30, 2026 that FY2027 initial H-1B cap registration would open at noon Eastern March 4 and run to 5 p.m. Eastern March 19, 2026, at $215 per beneficiary through organizational USCIS online accounts, with selection notices intended by March 31, 2026. On March 31, 2026 USCIS confirmed it received enough properly submitted registrations for unique beneficiaries to reach the cap including the advanced-degree exemption, selected accordingly, and notified petitioners through their accounts. Cap petition filing opened April 1, 2026 for employment start dates of October 1, 2026 or later. No second-round selection from the initial period was announced. Employers planning the next cycle should watch for the FY2028 registration announcement (typically January–February) and keep the $215-per-beneficiary, non-refundable, pay-before-submission mechanics in their process docs. Role and filing background is in our H-1B visa guide.

What to do now

• Selected FY2027 registrants: petitions should already be filed for October 1, 2026+ start dates — confirm receipt notices and premium-processing posture.
• Unselected employers: preserve beneficiary pipelines for FY2028; no action on the closed FY2027 round remains.
• Finance teams: note Treasury's raised daily credit-card limit ($99,999.99) for online H-1B payments, with ACH for larger volumes.

All 2026 Changes at a Glance

How This Page Updates Monthly

This hub is built to be updated without rewriting: each change owns a dated section, new months arrive as new dated sections or dated status paragraphs inside the existing section, and the summary table gains rows rather than edits. The update protocol each month is fixed — re-check the H-1B litigation docket (Northern District of California case conference October 27, 2026; First Circuit appeal), confirm the F-1 rule's effective date against the Federal Register (major-rule review caveat), scan USCIS alerts for fee or form changes, check CBP for ESTA/EVUS adjustments, scan the Unified Agenda for H-4 EAD movement from long-term status, and refresh the stamp at the top to the new verification date. Between updates, treat every date-sensitive fact here as a pointer to its source, not a substitute for it: court orders can lift, effective dates can shift, and fees change by notice.

Frequently Asked Questions