Legal Updates

Fiscal Year 2027 H-1B Initial Registration Selection Process Completed

As of March 31, 2026, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received enough electronic registrations for unique beneficiaries during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year 2027 H-1B numerical allocations (known as the H-1B cap), including the advanced degree exemption (master’s cap). USCIS selected enough beneficiaries with properly submitted registrations to reach the H-1B cap. All prospective petitioners with selected beneficiaries have been notified that they now can file an H-1B cap-subject petition for those beneficiaries. 

In Very Narrow Circumstances EAD Extensions May Be Available for TPS Recipients

On March 13, 2026, SAVE and E-Verify issued an update regarding automatic Employment Authorization Document (EAD) extensions for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. Specifically, the update stated:

If you have a TPS-based EAD and maintain TPS status, and your renewal application was pending on or filed after July 22 but before Oct. 30, 2025, your automatic extension is limited by H.R. 1 to 1 year or the duration of TPS, whichever is shorter. You cannot claim the full 540-day extension, even if it is listed on your Form I-797C notice. Please note: if the Form I-797C receipt notice has a “Received Date” of July 21, 2025, or earlier, the up-to-540-day automatic extension applies; however, any part of this extension that falls after July 22, 2025, cannot last longer than 1 year from this date or for the duration of the TPS designation period, whichever is shorter.

Since January 2025, the Administration has ended approximately two-thirds of the TPS programs. Following the end of each program litigation has ensued and, in many cases, courts have extended TPS pending litigation. As a result, it has become difficult for employers to understand whether a TPS employee is work authorized and for how long. 

Contact us with questions about TPS and work authorization.

USCIS Announced Updates to Increased Screening and Vetting Procedures

On March 30, 2026, USCIS announced it established procedures to lift benefit processing holds for certain individuals and groups, including:

• Individuals “vetted through Operation PARRIS”

• Certain petitions filed by U.S. citizens

• Intercountry adoption forms

• Certain rescheduled oath ceremonies

• Statutory and regulatory decision issuance

• Refugee registrations for South African citizens and nationals

• Certain special immigrant visa (SIV) petitions

• Certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs)

• Asylum applications from non-high-risk countries. 

Contact us with questions about the lifting of benefit holds.

Court Decision Eases Legal Standard Applicable to Employment-Based 1^st Preference Categories

Recently, an immigration lawyer secured a major victory in Mukherji v. Miller, where the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska held that USCIS unlawfully adopted and applied the so-called “Kazarian Step Two” final merits determination in adjudicating EB-1 petitions.

The plaintiff in the case is an internationally recognized investigative journalist. She filed an I-140 petition under the EB-1A “extraordinary ability” classification. USCIS determined that the plaintiff had satisfied five of the ten regulatory criteria under 8 CFR §204.5(h)(3). Nevertheless, it denied the petition at “Step Two,” where the Kazarian two-step analysis requires a review of the “final merits” of the petition, concluding that she had not demonstrated that she rose to the very top of her field. 

The plaintiff argued that under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), USCIS had imposed an extra-regulatory adjudicative step that the statute and regulations do not authorize, and that the agency adopted that step without notice-and-comment rulemaking. The court agreed, holding that USCIS’s two-step Kazarian framework constituted a legislative change that required formal rulemaking, and that USCIS could not impose an additional substantive requirement through policy memoranda. The court further concluded that the regulation governs and that USCIS may not deny an EB-1 petition after the petitioner satisfies the criteria set forth in 8 CFR §204.5(h)(3). The court ordered USCIS to reopen and approve the plaintiff’s I-140 petition because she satisfied the regulatory criteria. It is likely that this decision will be appealed.

Contact us with questions about Employment-Based 1^st Preference petitions.

The Washington Post Reports That, Under Trump, Legal Immigration to the US is Falling

On March 22, 2026, the Washington Post reported that from January to August 2025, the U.S. issued about 11% fewer permanent and temporary visas as compared to the same period in 2024, with steep declines for international students, exchange visitors, and family members of citizens/ legal residents from India, China, Afghanistan, and Cuba. The article cites the Administration's travel ban, pause on student visa interviews, heightened vetting, and government cuts leading to fewer State Department workers being available to process visas as factors creating longer wait times and uncertainty for applicants.