Headlines:
Federal Courtroom Pauses Choice to Declare $100,000 H-1B Price an Illegal Tax – On June 12, 2026, a U.S. district court docket partially stayed its resolution on June 8, 2026, that vacated a Division of Homeland Safety coverage imposing a $100,000 payment on sure new H-1B petitions.
USCIS Follows Compliance Order to Resume Processing of Functions for Nationals From 39 Nations, However Recordsdata Attraction – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) issued an alert underneath a court docket order and subsequent compliance order. The court docket vacated coverage steering primarily based on a number of presidential proclamations that resulted in a freeze on the processing of tons of of 1000’s of inexperienced card, work allow, and asylum purposes for nationals of 39 nations. USCIS has filed an enchantment of the choice vacating the insurance policies.
USCIS ‘Quietly’ Lifts Processing Holds for Physicians – In line with studies, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers has “quietly” lifted processing holds in america on pending immigration profit purposes for physicians. This consists of H-1B petitions filed by U.S. employers for doctor workers and J-1 waiver-related adjustment of standing purposes.
India Per-Nation Restrict Reached in EB-5 Unreserved Class – The Division of State has issued all obtainable immigrant visas within the employment-based fifth desire unreserved class for candidates chargeable to India for fiscal 12 months 2026.
DOS Plans Drastic Cuts to Visa-Processing Posts in Africa – In line with studies, the Division of State plans to cut back visa-processing capabilities at U.S. posts in Africa from virtually 50 posts to twenty regional hubs. The change is anticipated in June, though no particular efficient date has been publicly introduced.
Particulars:
Federal Courtroom Pauses Choice to Declare $100,000 H-1B Price an Illegal Tax
On June 12, 2026, a U.S. district court docket partially stayed its resolution on June 8, 2026, that vacated a Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) coverage implementing Presidential Proclamation 10973 by imposing a $100,000 payment on sure new H-1B petitions. The court docket allowed another request for an administrative keep pending a choice by the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the First Circuit on an anticipated movement to remain pending enchantment from the defendants, offered the defendants file such a movement by Thursday, June 18, 2026.
Within the June 8 resolution, the court docket stated that the $100,000 payment constituted an unauthorized supplemental tax. The court docket dominated in favor of the plaintiffs (20 state attorneys normal), discovering the Proclamation and the coverage implementing it to be arbitrary and capricious, unconstitutional, and opposite to regulation.
USCIS Follows Compliance Order to Resume Processing of Functions for Nationals From 39 Nations, However Recordsdata Attraction
On June 12, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) issued an alert underneath a court docket order, and subsequent compliance order, in Dorcas v. USCIS. The court docket had vacated coverage steering (PM 602-0192, PM 602-0194, and PA 2025-26) primarily based on a number of presidential proclamations that resulted in a freeze on the processing of tons of of 1000’s of inexperienced card, work allow, and asylum purposes for nationals of 39 nations. On June 12, USCIS filed an enchantment of the choice vacating the insurance policies.
The court docket has required processing of the purposes, however not approval; candidates should nonetheless meet eligibility necessities. Journey bans on sure nations are additionally nonetheless in place, as is the USCIS adjustment-of-status memorandum. Because of the complexities concerned, the Alliance of Enterprise Immigration Attorneys (ABIL) recommends contacting an legal professional in particular instances, particularly earlier than worldwide journey. ABIL additionally recommends that overseas nationals carry proof of their immigration standing whereas in america.
USCIS ‘Quietly’ Lifts Processing Holds for Physicians
In line with studies, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers has “quietly” lifted processing holds in america on pending immigration profit purposes for physicians. This consists of H-1B petitions filed by U.S. employers for doctor workers and J-1 waiver-related adjustment of standing purposes.
Physicians have been added on June 12, 2026, to the USCIS record, which incorporates particular person or group instances with a longtime inner course of for lifting holds that requires “complete evaluate by a number of workplaces.” The record is included in Replace on USCIS’ Strengthened Screening and Vetting.
India Per-Nation Restrict Reached in EB-5 Unreserved Class
On June 10, 2026, the Division of State (DOS) introduced that as of June 5, it had issued all obtainable immigrant visas within the employment-based fifth desire (EB-5) unreserved class for candidates chargeable to India for fiscal 12 months 2026.
The annual limits will reset with the beginning of the brand new fiscal 12 months on October 1, 2026. At that time, embassies and consulates might resume issuing immigrant visas on this class to certified candidates, DOS stated.
DOS Plans Drastic Cuts to Visa-Processing Posts in Africa
In line with studies, the Division of State (DOS) plans to chop most visa-processing capabilities at its posts in Africa from virtually 50 down to twenty in June.
Based mostly on an inner memo obtained by the Related Press, the 20 hubs to stay open for processing embrace Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Accra, Ghana; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Cape City, South Africa; Dakar, Senegal; Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania; Djibouti, Djibouti; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kampala, Uganda; Kigali, Rwanda; Kinshasa, Congo; Lagos, Nigeria; Lome, Togo; Luanda, Angola; Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; Port Louis, Mauritius; Praia, Cape Verde; and Yaounde, Cameroon.
Agency within the Information
Cyrus Mehta was quoted by the Instances of India in USCIS Drops Attraction in EB-1A Case, Decrease Courtroom Ruling Will Have Persuasive Worth for Inexperienced Card Candidates. He stated, “By withdrawing the enchantment, USCIS averted the danger of an antagonistic appellate ruling whereas leaving the district court docket judgment intact.”
Mr. Mehta was quoted by Instances Now in ‘Trump’s Energy Has Limits’: U.S. Immigration Consultants on Why H-1B Price Was Struck Down and What Subsequent. He stated, “This district court docket resolution is a significant victory for H-1B employers and a pointy reminder that presidential energy underneath INA § 212(f) has actual limits.” He additionally famous that the court docket “rejected the Trump administration’s try to make use of § 212(f) to impose a flat $100,000 ‘supplemental fee’ on each new H-1B petition.” Mr. Mehta identified that “[a]gencies might not situation H-1B approval on fee of the vacated $100,000 cost. H-1B prices are once more restricted to the statutory costs Congress has enacted.” He stated that at current, “this ruling will solely impression those that have already been chosen within the H-1B lottery both this 12 months or in earlier years and are outdoors the U.S. An employer who recordsdata an H-1B petition for a potential H-1B employee who’s outdoors the U.S. will now not must pay the $100,000 payment. Additionally, [for] one who might have fallen out of standing within the U.S. and has to depart the U.S. to acquire an H-1B visa stamp at a U.S. consulate, their employer who recordsdata the H-1B petition additionally doesn’t must pay the $100,000 payment.” The article consists of further quotes from Mr. Mehta.
Mr. Mehta was quoted by Bloomberg Regulation in Congress’ Taxing Energy Key to Trump Loss on $100,000 H-1B Price. He stated that a number of court docket selections present that INA § 212(f) can’t be wielded as broadly because the Trump administration would love, and that “[t]right here’s extra energy to that argument since Studying Sources. It’s moved the needle in favor of plaintiffs difficult the $100,000 payment now.”
