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The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Joseph Edlow as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on July 15. The 52-47 vote was divided along party lines.
As USCIS director, Edlow will play a key role in advancing President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, stating at his May confirmation hearing that “at its core, USCIS must be an immigration enforcement agency, an agency that is dedicated to ever evolving and innovative techniques for screening and vetting its applicant pool.”
During his confirmation hearing, Edlow said he will work with agency leadership “to develop and implement a plan that will leverage an appropriate use of personnel, processes and technology to address the current pending caseload” and “ensure that current USCIS workforce performs its statutory responsibilities.”
Edlow previously served as the acting director of USCIS in the first Trump administration. He will be the seventh director of USCIS following the resignation of former director Ur M. Jaddou.
This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published guidance for employers regarding completion of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for certain beneficiaries of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Venezuela 2023 redesignation.
Key Points:
Additional Information: On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the government’s request for an emergency stay of the district court order in National TPS Alliance, et al., v. Kristi Noem et al., case No. 3:25-cv-1766 (N.D. Cal. March 31, 2025). Based on the Supreme Court’s order, the March 31, 2025, district court order is stayed pending the disposition of the government’s appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
On May 30, 2025, the district court in this case ordered that — pending resolution of the litigation — TPS beneficiaries who received certain TPS-related documentation on or before Feb. 5, 2025, will maintain TPS and their documentation will remain valid.
BAL continues to monitor the ongoing litigation and will provide updates.
The U.S. State Department released the August 2025 Visa Bulletin. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced filings for employment-based visa preference categories must use the Final Action Dates chart in this bulletin.
Final Action Dates for EB-2 visa country categories retrogressed 1½ months to Sept. 1, 2023, except for India and China, which remained the same as last month. Final Action Dates for India EB-3 visas showed the only progression, advancing one month to May 22, 2013.
Final Action Dates:
EB-1 visa
EB-2 visa*
EB-3 visa**
Final Action Dates Chart for Employment-Based Visa Applications
Additional Information: *Due to increased number use, it has become necessary to retrogress the EB-2 Final Action Date for Rest of World countries. The issuance total in this category is rapidly approaching the annual limit for fiscal year (FY) 2025, necessitating this slowdown of issuance rates. It is likely the annual limit will be reached sometime in August, if not sooner. If at any time the EB-2 annual limit is reached, the preference category would immediately become “unavailable” and no further requests for numbers would be honored. The State Department will continually monitor this situation and make any necessary adjustments accordingly.
**Visa demand and number use remain high in the EB-3 and EW visa categories, and issuance totals are approaching the annual limits for FY 2025 in those categories. It will likely be necessary to either retrogress the Final Action Dates or make the categories “unavailable” in September, if not sooner. The State Department will continually monitor this situation and make any necessary adjustments accordingly.
Review BAL’s employer’s guide to reading the Visa Bulletin to better understand this monthly report.
The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) published the randomized assignment groups for H-2B visa applications submitted July 3–5, 2025, with a start date of Oct. 1, 2025.
Additional Information: The H-2B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for temporary nonagricultural jobs when not enough U.S. workers are available.
The randomization process is critical for employers to understand the status of their filings and prepare for the next stages, such as responding to Notices of Deficiency or Acceptance. Each application is assigned a unique number and placed into one of three assignment groups to help ensure fairness and transparency in how applications are reviewed.
The State Department recently published the Report of the Visa Office 2024 showing a steady climb in both immigrant visa and nonimmigrant visa issuance in fiscal year (FY) 2024.
According to the report, the State Department issued a total of 612,258 immigrant visas, an increase of 8.75% from last year’s total of 562,976. Nonimmigrant visa issuance advanced at a slower pace, rising from 10,438,327 in FY 2023 to 10,969,936 in FY 2024 — a year-over-year increase of just over 5%. Most posts in India and Mexico issued record high nonimmigrant visas in FY 2024.
Overall visa issuance continues its upward trend after plummeting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additional Information: The Visa Services Office publishes immigrant visa and nonimmigrant visa data in the annual Report of the Visa Office. Beginning with FY 2019, the annual report replaced an earlier transaction-based methodology with an application-centric methodology in the counting and reporting of all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa data.
The reconciliation bill H.R.1, aka “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law on July 4, includes several immigration-related provisions, including new fees, as well as more than $140 billion allocated to border security and enforcement measures.
Additional Information: Many of the new immigration fees are minimum fees, allowing the agencies to set higher amounts, and are subject to annual inflation adjustments. The nonwaivable visa integrity fee applies to all temporary travelers issued a nonimmigrant visa, including business travelers, tourists, international students, exchange visitors and foreign workers.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for both Honduras and Nicaragua, effective Sept. 8, 2025.
Additional Information: Approximately 72,000 Honduran nationals and 4,000 Nicaraguan nationals (or non-U.S. citizens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Honduras or Nicaragua) hold TPS under their respective country designation.
The Labor Department posted the latest processing times for permanent labor certification (PERM).
As of July 1, the department was adjudicating PERM applications filed in March 2024 and earlier and reviewing appeals for reconsideration filed in May 2025 and earlier.
These dates reflect the month and year in which cases were filed and are currently being adjudicated. The Reconsideration Request date for reviewing appeals reflects the month and year in which cases that are currently being reviewed were appealed. For various reasons, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) may be completing the processing of applications filed prior to the month posted.
These dates reflect the amount of time to process applications. Actual processing times for each employer’s PERM application may vary from the average depending on material facts and individual circumstances of the case. OFLC is reporting the average processing time for all PERM applications for the most recent month.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a notice for a proposed rule to rescind several provisions from its April 29, 2024, final rule governing the H-2A visa program.
Additional Information: The H-2A visa program allows U.S. agricultural employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary or seasonal work when domestic labor is insufficient. The April 2024 rule was initially introduced to strengthen worker protections and improve oversight of employer practices.
The DOL encourages feedback from both employers and worker advocacy groups to ensure the final rule reflects a fair and effective framework for the H-2A program.
Public comments can be submitted through Sept. 2, 2025 here.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will only accept the Jan. 20, 2025, edition of Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker starting July 30, 2025.
Until July 30, petitioners can also use the Jan. 17, 2025, edition (edition dates are located at the bottom of the form page).
Form I-129 is filed on behalf of temporary nonimmigrant workers to obtain a certain visa classification (e.g., H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, H-3, L-1, O-1, O-2, P-1, P-1S, P-2, P-2S, P-3, P-3S, Q-1 or R-1) or to request an extension of stay in or change of status to certain visa classifications.
More information on Form I-129, including instructions, fees and filing tips can be found here.