U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated its Policy Manual to reduce the maximum validity period of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for certain categories of aliens.
The maximum validity period for initial and renewal EADs will be changed from 5 years back to 18 months for the following individuals:
On December 2, 2025, USCIS issued a policy memorandum placing a hold on numerous immigration benefit requests and ordering the re-examination of previously approved cases.
What the Memo Says: Key Provisions
In short: thousands of pending and even approved immigration benefit cases could now be delayed or re-evaluated. The USCIS policy memorandum states that in light of recent threats to the American people:
On Friday August 15th, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new policy memorandum (PM-602-0188) increasing the scrutiny of applications for U.S. citizenship, as part of the Trump administration’s latest efforts to tighten eligibility for naturalization.
Specifically, USCIS has directed immigration officers to evaluate additional factors when assessing whether applicants demonstrate “good moral character,” a key requirement for naturalization, alongside passing English and civics tests.
The requirement of “good moral character” is typically met when applicants have no criminal history or have not engaged in conduct that would disqualify them from U.S. citizenship, such as committing violent crimes or aggravated felonies.
Friday’s policy memorandum however expands this determination stating that the “good moral character” assessment must involve more than a “cursory mechanical review focused on the absence of wrongdoing.” The expanded policy will now require “a holistic assessment of an alien’s behavior, adherence to societal norms, and positive contributions that affirmatively demonstrate good moral character.”
This directive mandates greater scrutiny of factors that could show a lack of “good moral character,” which go beyond the crimes and disqualifying conduct previously taken into consideration by USCIS.
On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, a federal judge from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a nationwide court order lifting the Trump administration’s suspension of adjudications for immigration benefit applications submitted by noncitizens who were lawfully paroled into the United States under certain categorical parole programs implemented during the Biden administration.
Those affected by the suspensions were parolees in the following programs:
The Trump administration is not letting up on its campaign to target international students applying for visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates, beginning with Harvard University students.
On Friday May 30, 2025, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an internal cable to U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide requiring them to “immediately begin additional vetting” for all applicants seeking a visa to travel to Harvard University “for any purpose.”
While the internal cable is not publicly available, its contents have been reviewed by several prominent media outlets including Politico and CNN.
According to their reports, the cable indicates that the State Department has adopted a new policy requiring Consulates and Embassies to review the social media accounts of all nonimmigrant visa applicants seeking to attend Harvard University, including prospective students, current students, faculty members, contractors, guest speakers, and even tourists visiting the university. This initiative, directed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio through a diplomatic cable, is set to begin immediately and serves as a pilot program that is expected to expand to other U.S. schools, colleges, and universities.
The policy specifically targets the identification of antisemitic content and antisemitic viewpoints published on online social media platforms. The cable notes, “the enhanced vetting measures described in this guidance aim at ensuring that consular officers can appropriately identify such visa applicants with histories of antisemitic harassment and violence, and to duly consider the visa eligibility under U.S. immigration law.” Notably, the cable does not specify what specifically would indicate “inadmissible antisemitism” nor does it define online activities that would render an individual ineligible for a visa.
Consular officers are instructed to conduct comprehensive screenings of applicant’s social media accounts, including those set to private. The cable notes that consular officers should determine, either in pre-screening or an interview, if the applicant is seeking to travel to Harvard, and such applicants should be refused a visa “pending review of their online presence.”
Following a wave of lawsuits from international students whose visas and Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records were terminated without prior notice, the Trump administration has suddenly changed its course.
In recent weeks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun reinstating SEVIS records that were previously terminated, after seemingly recognizing that the government did not go through the appropriate channels to do so.
Over the past month, it is estimated that the State Department and ICE collectively cancelled over 300 F-1 student visas and terminated more than 4,736 SEVIS records primarily due to student encounters with law enforcement, criminal charges that were dismissed, and old misdemeanors pre-dating visa issuance. These SEVIS terminations automatically exposed students to unlawful presence in the United States, and the risk of deportation.
It was further discovered that ICE utilized AI assisted programs to screen the social media posts of F-1 international students and terminated their legal status based on antisemitic activity or alleged support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
In response, students across the country sued the government to preserve their status, leading federal judges to issue a series of emergency orders to stop the government from cancelling visas and SEVIS records.
We are pleased to report that today the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs published the May 2025 Visa Bulletin.
In this blog post, we breakdown the movement of the employment-based and family-sponsored categories in the coming month.
USCIS Adjustment of Status
For employment-based preference categories, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed it will continue to use the Final Action Dates chart to determine filing eligibility for adjustment of status to permanent residence in the month of May.
For family-sponsored preference categories, USCIS will also continue to use the Dates for Filing chart to determine filing eligibility for adjustment of status to permanent residence in the month of May.
Please click here for more information.
Highlights of the May 2025 Visa Bulletin
At a Glance
What can we expect to see in the month of May?
Employment-Based Categories
Dates for Filing Advancements
Final Action Advancements & Retrogressions
EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers
EB-3 Other Workers
EB-5 Unreserved Categories (C5, T5, I5, and R5)
Today March 21, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an advance copy of a notice in the Federal Register ending four Biden-era parole programs for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV).
When
The temporary parole period of aliens in the United States under the CHNV parole programs will terminate on April 24th (30 days from the date of the notice’s publication in the Federal Register)
Parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the United States following this termination of the CHNV parole programs must depart the United States before the program’s termination date.
Who will be impacted
Nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who flew to the U.S. under Biden’s CHNV humanitarian parole program.
Parolees granted admission under CHNV were given a temporary two-year parole period to remain in the U.S., work authorization, and protection from deportation. The purpose of the program was to reduce illegal immigration at the southern border and provide alternative legal avenues.
Approximately 532,000 nationals entered the United States using this program.
Termination of Employment Authorization Documents
Parole-based employment authorization for CHNV parolees will also automatically terminate on April 24th and will be revoked pursuant to 8 CFR 274a.14(b).
Expedited Removal
Following parole termination, DHS intends to promptly remove aliens who entered the United States under the CHNV parole programs, who do not depart the United States before their parole termination date and who do not have any lawful basis to remain in the United States.
A new article published in the New York Times reveals the 43 countries that are reportedly included in President Trump’s new travel ban, expected to be released by executive order on Friday March 21st.
According to anonymous government sources, the White House is considering a draft proposal establishing partial or full suspensions on entry to the United States for countries falling into three different tiers: red, orange, and yellow.
The “red” list of countries includes nationals whose entry to the United States would be barred for a temporary period that is yet to be determined by the U.S. government including:
The draft proposal also includes an “orange” list of countries whose nationals would not be barred from the United States, but who must be properly vetted and screened at mandatory in-person visa interviews before gaining admission to the United States.
We knew it was coming. The Trump administration is preparing to roll out a new ban on travel to the United States, restricting the entry of citizens from certain countries for which vetting and screening warrants a partial or full suspension of admission to the United States. This travel restriction is rumored to take place by executive action next week.
If this sounds like déjà vu, that’s because it is.
During his first term in office, in 2017 Trump signed Executive Order 13769 entitled, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which banned nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for a period of 90 days.
This executive order caused international chaos, due to several key provisions:
Implementation of this executive order led to controversy and numerous legal challenges:
Visa Lawyer Blog