On December 1, 2020, a U.S. District Court set aside Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security interim final rules that impacts the H-1B specialty occupation category. The court found that the agencies did not have just cause to promulgate the October 8, 2020 rules without notice and comment.

Read NAFSA's recommendations to the Biden-Harris administration for key administrative and congressional actions that will create a more welcoming environment for international students and scholars and ensure the global competence of our college graduates through study abroad.

On November 18, 2020, the Department of State (DOS) issued Guidance Directive 2020-01 - Confucius Institutes, which supersedes prior guidance on the relationship of college and university J-1 exchange programs to Confucius Institutes and associated activities at K-12 schools and universities.

On October 22, 2020, NAFSA Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Esther Brimmer, submitted a comment on behalf of NAFSA urging the Department of Homeland Security to withdraw its proposal to eliminate duration of status.

ICE announced recent OPT enforcement actions in a press release and press conference. Read about it and NAFSA's initial response on the NAFSA web site.

The NAFSA Fall 2020 Immigration Review provides a brief overview of changes in immigration law, policy, procedure, and practice over the past 6 months. Subjects include recent policy revisions affecting F students and J exchange visitors, scholar- and employment-based updates, cross-category topics, and COVID-19-related developments. Free to NAFSA members.

USCIS announced that effective October 19, 2020, it will it will raise the premium processing fee for Form I-140 and most Form I-129 premium processing requests from $1,440 to $2,500 as authorized by the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act.

On October 8, 2020, DHS published an interim final rule (IFR) titled Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program. The IFR becomes effective automatically on December 7, 2020, but there are concurrent public comment periods. Changes include revised definitions of and standards for a "specialty occupation" and "employer-employee relationship," limited petition validity for third-party placements, and other changes that make use of the H-1B category more challenging.

On October 8, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) published an interim final rule that changes how the DOL the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) applies its four wage-level system to generate prevailing wage determinations when Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) data is used as the wage data source. This will result in higher NPWC prevailing wage determinations in each OES-based wage level. The rule is effective on the date of publication, October 8, 2020, but as an interim final rule the public is able to comment for 30 days even though the rule is already in effect. Comments are due on or before November 9, 2020.

The Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act authorizes USCIS to expand its premium processing program to include applications to change or extend nonimmigrant status and applications for employment authorization.