Headlines:
DOS Expands Social Media Vetting to H-1B and H-4 Visa Candidates – This latest enlargement of the federal government’s on-line presence screening practices for international nationals applies to each new visa functions and renewals.
USCIS Reduces Most Validity Interval for Some Work Permits – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers has lowered the utmost validity interval for Employment Authorization Paperwork (EADs) for sure classes. This replace additionally incorporates modifications to EAD validity intervals made by latest laws.
USCIS Proclaims New ‘Vetting Heart’ – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) is establishing a brand new Vetting Heart to be headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The middle “will draw on the complete spectrum of categorised and nonclassified screening and vetting capabilities and supply a extra thorough supplemental assessment of immigration functions and petitions,” USCIS stated.
USCIS Orders ‘Maintain and Evaluation’ of All Pending Asylum Functions, Evaluation/Re-Evaluation of Profit Functions of These From ‘Excessive-Threat International locations’ – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) issued a memorandum ordering USCIS personnel to “maintain and assessment” all pending asylum functions and all USCIS profit functions filed by these from “high-risk nations.” The memo additionally requires re-review and re-interview of sure candidates.
DOS Prioritizes Attendees of Sports activities Occasions, Traders; Proclaims “FIFA PASS” Initiative – the Division of State has instructed all diplomatic and consular posts to prioritize visa functions for U.S. guests coming for main sports activities occasions, together with the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, and businesspeople contemplating “important investments.”
Workforce Coalition Presses DHS and DOL on H-2B Supplemental Visas for FY 2026 – A bunch of organizations calling itself the “H-2B Workforce Coalition” urged the Secretaries of Homeland Safety and Labor to “promptly make obtainable 64,716 supplemental H-2B visas for fiscal yr 2026” attributable to a “dire scarcity of seasonal labor.”
Particulars:
DOS Expands Social Media Vetting to H-1B and H-4 Visa Candidates
Beginning December 15, 2025, the Division of State (DOS) will prolong its enhanced social media vetting to H-1B specialty-occupation staff and their H-4 dependent members of the family. This latest enlargement of the federal government’s on-line presence screening practices for international nationals applies to each new visa functions and renewals.
Highlights embody:
- Whereas DOS has not launched detailed requirements governing how consular officers will consider on-line content material for H-1B and H-4 candidates, it’s anticipated that will probably be according to DOS’s June 2025 rollout of enhanced social media vetting for F, J, and M visa candidates. In its preliminary implementation, DOS instructed candidates to make their social media accounts publicly viewable and emphasised that consular officers could assessment on-line exercise as a part of the nationwide safety and eligibility evaluation underlying each visa adjudication.
- The DS-160 already requires most nonimmigrant visa candidates to listing all social media identifiers or usernames used in the course of the previous 5 years. DOS could deal with a scarcity of accessible on-line presence or refusal to make accounts public as a warning signal. Additionally, a historical past of political activism, whereas not essentially grounds for denial, could contribute to prolonged processing.
- In step with present vetting practices for F, J, and M visa candidates, consular officers will doubtless use the identical on-line assessment instruments to evaluate credibility, confirm consistency with the supplied employment, and consider compliance with previous immigration standing. Officers may assessment on-line exercise for indicators of potential safety dangers, together with expressions of hostility towards U.S. establishments, affiliations that might implicate national-security issues, or content material that means involvement in or sympathy for illegal conduct. Social media content material that seems inconsistent with an applicant’s job title, employer affiliation, work location, or prior standing historical past, or that raises such safety issues could set off follow-up questioning or administrative processing.
The Division of State additionally reportedly despatched a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts to “be looking out” for H-1B visa candidates who’re “chargeable for or complicit within the censorship of People.” The cable defines such actions as “adopting international content material moderation insurance policies inconsistent with freedom of expression, complying with international content material moderation or censorship calls for from a international entity and offering entry to non-public knowledge on Americans in reference to content material moderation.” Along with social media profiles and posts, DOS stated, proof could possibly be obtained from resumes, work histories, and public statements.
Additional, there have additionally been latest stories of H-1B visa refusals issued underneath § 214(b) of the immigration statute primarily based on perceived credibility points—despite the fact that H-1B standing is a dual-intent class that shouldn’t be topic to conventional nonimmigrant-intent denials. Whereas § 214(b) is often used to refuse visas that require robust ties overseas, consular officers could invoke it for H-1B visa candidates when social-media assessment uncovers inconsistencies in employment data, questions on prior standing compliance, or different credibility issues, doubtlessly rising denial dangers underneath the expanded vetting framework.
Employers and affected H candidates ought to anticipate longer processing instances, prolonged background checks, and better emphasis on consistency throughout their said employment, resume, immigration historical past, on-line presence, and any potential security-related indicators.
USCIS Reduces Most Validity Interval for Some Work Permits
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) has lowered the utmost validity interval for Employment Authorization Paperwork (EADs) for sure classes. This replace additionally incorporates modifications to EAD validity intervals made by latest laws, USCIS stated. USCIS Director Joseph Edlow stated the reductions will allow elevated vetting and “be sure that these looking for to work in america don’t threaten public security or promote dangerous anti-American ideologies.”
The utmost validity interval for preliminary and renewal EADs has been modified from 5 years again to 18 months in a number of classes for candidates for work authorization that had been pending or filed on or after December 5, 2025, together with these:
- Admitted as refugees or granted asylum or withholding of removing;
- With pending functions for asylum or withholding of removing;
- With pending functions for adjustment of standing underneath INA § 245; and
- With pending functions for suspension of deportation, cancellation of removing, or reduction underneath the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Reduction Act.
As required by H.R. 1, the “One Huge Stunning Invoice Act,” the validity interval for preliminary and renewal EADs shall be one yr or the top date of the approved parole interval or period of Short-term Protected Standing (TPS), whichever is shorter, for these whose work authorization functions had been pending or filed on or after July 22, 2025, together with these:
- Paroled as refugees or granted TPS or parole;
- With pending TPS functions; and
- Who’re noncitizen spouses of individuals with entrepreneur parole.
USCIS Proclaims New ‘Vetting Heart’
On December 5, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) introduced the institution of a brand new USCIS Vetting Heart to be headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The brand new middle shall be “a specialised unit to strengthen the flexibility of America’s immigration system to display out terrorists, prison aliens, and different international nationals who pose potential threats to public security or who’ve dedicated fraud or different crimes.”
USCIS stated that after the brand new vetting middle “is totally operational, it’s going to draw on the complete spectrum of categorised and nonclassified screening and vetting capabilities and supply a extra thorough supplemental assessment of immigration functions and petitions. These evaluations will leverage state-of-the-art applied sciences, together with synthetic intelligence.” The middle will use “Division of Homeland Safety and different legislation enforcement and intelligence group screening sources to conduct this vital work and shall be tasked with conducting evaluations of pending functions in addition to a extra holistic assessment of already-approved functions,” USCIS stated. Evaluations performed by the middle “will prioritize functions from presidentially designated nations of concern.”
The announcement didn’t say when the middle could be totally operational.
USCIS Orders ‘Maintain and Evaluation’ of All Pending Asylum Functions, Evaluation/Re-Evaluation of Profit Functions of These From ‘Excessive-Threat International locations’
On December 2, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) issued a memorandum ordering USCIS personnel to “maintain and assessment” all pending asylum functions and all USCIS profit functions filed by these from “high-risk nations.” The memo additionally requires re-review and re-interview of sure candidates.
USCIS stated it has decided {that a} “complete re-review, potential interview, and re-interview” of these from high-risk nations of concern who entered america on or after January 20, 2021, is important. USCIS stated it “could, when applicable, prolong this assessment and re-interview course of to aliens who entered america exterior of this timeframe.”
The high-risk nations are listed in Presidential Proclamation 10949, issued in June 2025. Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem reportedly met with President Trump lately to debate increasing the variety of nations included within the Trump administration’s journey ban to greater than 30, and people plans are transferring ahead. A Division of State (DOS) cable despatched out in June reportedly stated that the company “has recognized 36 nations of concern that is perhaps really useful for full or partial suspension of entry if they don’t meet established benchmarks and necessities inside 60 days.”
DOS Prioritizes Attendees of Sports activities Occasions, Traders; Proclaims “FIFA PASS” Initiative
Based on stories, the Division of State (DOS) has despatched cables to all diplomatic and consular posts instructing them to prioritize visa functions for U.S. guests coming for main sports activities occasions, together with the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, and businesspeople contemplating “important investments.”
As a part of this effort, DOS introduced a brand new “FIFA Precedence Appointment Scheduling System (PASS),” an initiative to prioritize attendees of World Cup occasions in america in 2026. DOS stated that additional data concerning the FIFA PASS “shall be shared with ticket holders in early 2026.”
Workforce Coalition Presses DHS and DOL on H-2B Supplemental Visas for FY 2026
On December 2, 2025, a gaggle of organizations calling itself the “H-2B Workforce Coalition” urged Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem and Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to “promptly make obtainable 64,716 supplemental H-2B visas for fiscal yr 2026” attributable to a “dire scarcity of seasonal labor.” The coalition stated the visas “will present employers with the flexibility to raised deal with their labor challenges, as they are going to have extra certainty concerning their workforce planning choices within the coming months.”
The coalition additionally urged the businesses “to promptly publish a brief rule implementing the discharge of those supplemental visas,” and expressed assist for the Trump administration’s “efforts to extend entry to H-2B visas for international nationals from the Northern Triangle nations and Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.”
The coalition represents “small and seasonal companies” throughout america in industries reminiscent of “lodging, landscaping, seafood, eating places, tourism, equine, forestry, cell outside amusement, golf programs, and others.” The letter says that the coalition’s members “depend on the H-2B visa program to complement their U.S. workforce throughout seasonal surge and peak enterprise wants.”
