Weekly Immigration News: New Work Permit Form Arrives September 15 — and There’s No Grace Period

An interim final rule effective July 28 lets USCIS send certain affirmative asylum applications straight to an immigration judge without an interview, mainly cases that appear to miss the one-year filing deadline. Applicants still receive a hearing in immigration court.

A federal judge in Maryland stayed the August 2025 policy barring nonprofits from registering voters at administrative naturalization ceremonies, reinstating 2017 guidance. USCIS confirmed the change in League of Women Voters v. USCIS. Votebeat reported the government may appeal.

A final rule published August 10 extends the $4,000 H-1B and $4,500 L-1 9-11 Response fee to all extension petitions filed by covered large employers, effective September 9. It applies even when the worker stays with the same employer.

A former Customs and Border Protection officer at the Tecate port of entry was sentenced August 7 to nine years in prison, the Justice Department said. He took at least $10,000 per vehicle to wave cartel drug loads through his lane, coordinating shifts by emoji code.

President Trump signed two executive orders on August 6. One identifies categories of children the administration says fall outside birthright citizenship; the other directs the State and Homeland Security secretaries to halt "birth tourism." Both follow the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in Trump v. Barbara on June 30, which upheld birthright citizenship.

An Associated Press investigation found that more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since January 2025, with at least six deported. Several were detained at USCIS appointments while seeking military parole in place or adjustment of status.

The State Department published a proposed rule on July 30 clarifying when sponsors must terminate a J-1 exchange visitor's program, revising extension and reinstatement procedures, and rescinding the separate extension provision for au pairs. Public comments are due September 28, 2026.

CitizenPath released its inaugural 2026 U.S. Immigration Affordability Index on August 4, measuring the all-in cost of six immigration journeys across all 50 states. A minimum-wage worker in Mississippi must work about 111 hours to afford citizenship, versus about 45 hours in Washington, D.C.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti lapsed on July 27 after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to end it, affecting more than 330,000 Haitian nationals who could lose work authorization and legal status. The Washington Post reported that DHS and the courts remain at odds over exactly when protections end.

Under an interim final rule effective July 28, USCIS can now refer certain affirmative asylum applications — the kind filed directly with USCIS rather than in court — straight to an immigration judge without the usual asylum-officer interview. USCIS said the change targets a backlog that has grown past 1.4 million cases.

On July 24, the First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's request to reinstate a $100,000 payment requirement for certain H-1B petitions while the case is appealed. As the National Law Review explained, the court found the government unlikely to succeed on the merits, so USCIS cannot collect the fee for now.

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled that ICE's policy of arresting people at immigration courthouses, along with a related 12-hour-detention waiver, was unlawful — the first nationwide block of the practice. The Hill reported the judge found the policy "arbitrary and capricious."