For nearly 50 years, three words have governed how international students stay in the United States: duration of status. Under this framework, an F-1 student was admitted for as long as they were making progress in their program. A PhD candidate could take a sixth year to finish a dissertation. A surgical resident could move into a fellowship. A community college student could transfer to a four-year university. The person making those calls was the international student advi

There is no regulatory text. There is no comment period. There is no proposed rule to read. And yet the single most consequential item on the PERM calendar right now is a line on the Department of Labor's regulatory agenda: RIN 1205-AC29, Modernizing the Labor Market Test and Improving Protections for U.S. Workers in the PERM Immigrant Visa Program. The labor market test is the recruitment. The recruitment is the advertising. Whatever DOL ultimately publishes, the rule is aim

USCIS Can Now Deny Incomplete Applications Without an RFE This is the one that should keep every immigration filer up at night. As of August 5, USCIS officers can deny applications and petitions outright if required initial evidence is missing or eligibility isn't established. No Request for Evidence. No Notice of Intent to Deny. No chance to fix it. Just a denial, a lost filing fee, and months of wasted time. The agency also clarified that when RFEs are issued, officers may

USCIS changed the rules of filing this morning. Effective August 5, 2026, officers have full discretion to deny a benefit request outright when the filing fails to establish eligibility or omits required initial evidence. No Request for Evidence. No Notice of Intent to Deny. The agency's position is that eligibility must be demonstrated at the moment of filing, and that its form instructions already specify what that takes. That is not a new idea. It was the standard from 201

Trump Administration Considers $100,000 OPT Fee If $100,000 for an H-1B petition wasn't enough, the administration is now floating the same price tag for Optional Practical Training. OPT, the program that allows international students to work in the U.S. after graduation, could become prohibitively expensive if the proposal moves forward. Nothing has been formally announced yet, and the idea is still under discussion, but the signal alone is enough to rattle the pipeline. A s

USCIS Reaches FY 2027 H-1B Cap The door is officially closed. USCIS confirmed it has received enough petitions to meet both the regular H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption for FY 2027. No more cap-subject filings will be accepted. Employers with pending petitions should continue tracking their cases, but for companies whose candidates weren't selected, it's time to pivot. Alternative visa options like O-1, L-1, TN, E-3, or cap-exempt H-1B positions are the immediate fa

DHS Finalizes Broader Public Charge Rule The public charge rule is back, and it's broader than before. DHS finalized a rule that expands how immigration officers evaluate whether green card applicants are likely to become dependent on government benefits. Starting September 18, 2026, USCIS will once again consider the use of certain means-tested public benefits, including Medicaid, SNAP, and some housing assistance, as part of a case-by-case review. The rule applies to applic

As America approaches its 250th birthday, Forbes has released a list that should be required reading for every business leader, talent strategist, and policymaker in the country: the Forbes 250 Most Successful Living Immigrants in America. And the story behind how that list was built is just as revealing as the names on it. In this episode of the Immigration Nerds podcast, host Lauren Clark, Managing Attorney at Erickson Immigration Group, sits down with Alex Knapp, Senior Ed

DOL Plans First Major PERM Overhaul in More Than Two Decades This is the story. The Department of Labor has announced plans to modernize the PERM labor certification process for the first time in over 20 years. The agency hasn't released proposed regulations yet, but its regulatory agenda outlines updates to recruitment requirements that would better reflect how employers actually hire in 2026. Think greater emphasis on online recruiting methods, stronger compliance requireme

Prevailing Wage Levels Jump Across the Board The Department of Labor's updated prevailing wage data went into effect July 1, and most employers are looking at higher numbers. The median increase came in at 3.3%, with roughly 74% of occupation-by-metro combinations seeing wages climb. Science, legal, and healthcare roles led the way, and most major STEM occupations followed suit. There was one notable exception: Software Developer and Data Scientist wages actually declined in

Buried in Friday's rulemaking agenda is a detail worth more attention than it's getting: the Department of Labor isn't just tweaking prevailing wage math, it's planning a full rewrite of PERM regulations for the first time since 2004. And the DOL's own language points to one area first: "standards for recruiting qualified US workers." Translation for employers and the firms that represent them: the recruitment step of PERM, the part everyone treats as a formality is about to

July Visa Bulletin Brings Pain for India, a Bright Spot for EB-3 The July Visa Bulletin landed with a thud for Indian nationals in the employment-based categories. EB-2 India is now unavailable. EB-1 India retrogressed by two months. EB-5 Unreserved for India also went unavailable. If you're an Indian national waiting on an employment-based green card, the line just got longer or disappeared entirely. On the flip side, China saw gains across EB-1, EB-3, and EB-5. And EB-3 was

Federal Judge Unblocks Thousands of Frozen Green Card and Asylum Cases A federal judge just handed the administration a major defeat, blocking USCIS policies that had effectively frozen the processing of green cards, asylum applications, work permits, and naturalization requests. The freeze had stalled cases filed by immigrants from 39 countries covered by the administration's travel restrictions. The court ruled that USCIS lacked the authority to impose such broad pauses and

What if you could feel what it’s like to go through the H-1B visa process, the uncertainty, the waiting, the life decisions put on hold without ever filing a single form? That’s the premise behind one of the most creative and unexpected immigration projects to emerge in years: a video game called H1B.Life. In this episode of the Immigration Nerds podcast, host Lauren Clark, Managing Attorney at Erickson Immigration Group, sits down with Allison Yang a journalist, passionate g

USCIS Tightens the Screws on Adjustment of Status A new USCIS policy memo is sending ripple effects through the immigration bar. The guidance reminds officers that adjustment of status, applying for a green card from within the U.S. is a discretionary benefit, not an entitlement, and directs them to more carefully weigh positive and negative factors before approving applications. Translation: more scrutiny, more Requests for Evidence, and longer wait times. The memo doesn't c

USCIS Cracks Down on Signatures, And There's No Fix If You Get It Wrong Starting July 10, USCIS will reject or deny any immigration application with a typed, stamped, forged, or digitally pasted signature. No corrections. No second chances. No refund on your filing fee. The interim final rule, published May 11, applies to all immigration benefit requests meaning every petition, every application, every form that crosses a USCIS desk. In a system where a single filing can cost

Atlas is heading to San Diego. Find us in the exhibit hall at AILAAC26, June 17–20. Whether you're a law firm streamlining your PERM advertising process or an employer navigating DOL compliance for the first time, we're there to talk through it. No fluff, no guesswork. We've built our entire business around one thing: getting PERM Labor Certification advertising right. Compliant. Cost-effective. Handled with care. Stop by, meet the team, and see why firms across the country t

Cloudera's PERM Program Slapped With a 180-Day Suspension This is the headline every employer sponsoring foreign workers should read twice. On May 12, the Department of Labor announced an enforcement action against AI company Cloudera, suspending all PERM application processing for the company for 180 days. The reason? Irregularities in the recruitment process. Making it worse, the Department of Justice has filed a parallel lawsuit alleging Cloudera violated the Immigration a

USCIS Hits Pause on Approvals While "Enhanced" Background Checks Ramp Up Starting April 27, USCIS officers have been told to hold off on approving immigration cases until expanded background checks clear. The new directive pulls in broader criminal history data from the FBI, covering green card and naturalization applications alike. If your fingerprints on file are older than a certain threshold, expect to resubmit them, adding yet another step to an already sluggish process.

In 2026, the U.S. naturalization (citizenship) test is undergoing its most significant overhaul in years. The changes are designed to modernize how civics knowledge is evaluated, expand language access, and update study materials to reflect how applicants learn today. Immigrants planning to apply for U.S. citizenship should understand how the test format is evolving, what subject areas may expand, and how to prepare effectively under the new framework. While some regulatory d