Adviser's Manual 360

On July 22, 2025 USCIS will publish a Federal Register notice to implement collection of certain (but not all) of the HR-1 budget law's new immigration fees, effective as of the July 22 publication in the Federal Register. The notice clarifies, though, that the new Visa Integrity and Form I-94 fees will not be collected under the July 22, 2025 notice but rather in separate future Federal Register notices.

On July 18, 2025 USCIS announced that it had "received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year 2026." See NAFSA's H-1B cap resource page.

On July 17, 2025 USCIS submitted for OMB review a proposed rule titled "Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions." The forthcoming proposed rule will likely be similar to a final rule published at the very end of the first Trump administration that would have replaced the current random selection process for H-1B cap-subject registrations with a system that gave preference to higher wage earners.

In early July, 2025 the Department of State revised the visa reciprocity schedules of numerous countries to reduce the validity of visas it issues going forward to 3 months and only a single entry. NAFSA checked the DOS visa reciprocity tables in the B, F, H, J, M, and O visa categories and lists these countries on a new NAFSA page.

H.R.1, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" signed into law on July 4, 2025, imposes a new "visa integrity fee" to be paid upon the issuance of any nonimmigrant visa. For fiscal year 2025, the fee will be set at the greater of $250 or an amount established by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through regulation, with automatic annual adjustments for inflation beginning in fiscal year 2026. The fee may not be waived or reduced, and all revenues - except those reimbursed under specific conditions - are to be deposited into the U.S. Treasury’s general fund. A reimbursement can be authorized for nonimmigrants who comply fully with the terms of their visa, including avoiding unauthorized employment, and who either depart the United States promptly at the end of their authorized stay or obtain a lawful extension or adjustment of status.

On July 1, 2025, the Department of State (DOS) added two additional incident reporting requirements to its Incident Reporting Rubric for academic exchange visitor program (J-1) sponsors: 1) Lawsuits or Formal Complaints by an Exchange Visitor Against the Sponsor Alleging Unlawful Affirmative Action and 2) Lawsuits or Formal Complaints by an Exchange Visitor Against the Sponsor Alleging Unlawful DEI Policies. This follows a May 15 revision to the rubric that had added 1) Proscribed Antisemitic Actions, 2) Serious Violations of University Conduct Rules, and 3) Terrorist Activity, Endorsing or Espousing Terrorism as incident reporting requirements.

On the afternoon of June 27, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security/US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) submitted for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review a proposed rule to end "duration of status" (D/S). The "good" news is that it was submitted as a proposed rule, rather than interim final or final rule. We don’t know how similar this will be to the 2020 Trump 1.0 proposed rule of the same title that had been withdrawn under the Biden administration, but it is likely to share many similarities. See NAFSA's page that tracks the status of the new proposal and for background and some resources from the 2020 proposed rule.

On June 18, 2025, media outlets began reporting that they had obtained a copy of the expected cable sent to consular offices containing the anticipated directives on how consular officers should screen the social media and online presence of applicants applying for F, M, and J visas, and factors the consulates should consider as they resume scheduling student visa interviews.

Complete a survey accessible through NAFSA IssueNet to help NAFSA gather information on how the suspension in new student/exchange visitor visa appointment availability is affecting international enrollment, planning, and operations.

Register for "Sharing Model Practices for Public Access Files," a NAFSA Peer to Peer Perspective community dialogue on June 25, 2025 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm EDT. Understanding and properly maintaining labor condition application (LCA) Public Access Files (PAFs) is essential for every H-1B practitioner. Noncompliance can lead to serious consequences, including debarment from the H-1B program. This  will begin with a brief panel discussion, followed by an open forum for sharing best practices related to the creation, storage, and upkeep of PAFs. Participants will also exchange insights on institutional procedures for handling public requests to view Public Access Files and for managing both internal and external audits.