Robin Catmur-Smith
Managing Director of the International Student Resource Center

Written by
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U.S. Government Shutdown
Congress has voted to re-open the government. The bill passed by Congress funds the federal government through January 30, 2026.
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DHS Rule Eliminates the 540-Day Automatic Extension of EADs
On October 29, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published an Interim Final Rule regarding the automatic 540-day extension of certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), if the holder had filed for…
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Weighted selection process for H-1B petitions (proposed regulation)
This is a proposed regulation to apply a weighted selection process based on wage levels to determine access to the H-1B lottery program. Instead of a purely random lottery, USCIS would assign…
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Increased social media vetting in some USCIS applications
The U.S. The Department of State (DoS) began scrutinizing social media postings and content of some student visa applicants during the visa application process. USCIS is now implementing a similar policy, to…
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Data tracking requirement changes for U.S. schools
A proposed regulation was published on September 3, 2025, requiring additional data tracking for the F-1 I-20 form and the sponsoring school’s I-17 form.
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Additional restrictions on allowed visa interview waivers
Effective October 1, 2025, F and J student visa applicants are no longer eligible for visa application interview waivers. Previously, F and J students were able to waive out of the visa…
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Shorter new visas for certain countries
Changes to the Visa Reciprocity tables for certain countries. Changes were made to the duration of visas issued for certain countries, and the number of entries allowed per visa issued.
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Revised incident reporting requirement
The U.S. State department is amending the reporting requirements for J-1 exchange visitors to include a requirement that the J-1 program sponsors report to the State Department any J-1 who participates in…
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Proposal for new visa integrity fee
The Budget bill passed in July 2025 included several new visa fees to be implemented at the agency level in the future. These included a new visa application fee of at least…
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Travel bans to the U.S.
The U.S. issued travel bans and restrictions for certain countries as published in Presidential Proclamation 10949 .
