U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing today for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year year (FY) 2018 cap. The FY 2018 cap has been set at 65,000 visas. Premium processing has also resumed for the annual 20,000 additional petitions that are set aside to hire workers with a U.S. master’s degree or higher educational degree.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is no longer accepting petitions from U. S. employers seeking to hire temporary nonagricultural workers under the one-time increase to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 H-2B cap announced in July.
For the first time, in May, Congress delegated its authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to increase the number of temporary nonagricultural work visas available to U.S. employers through FY 2017.
Release Date
10/20/2025
On September 19, 2025, the President issued a Proclamation, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, an important initial step to reform the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. Under the Proclamation, new H-1B petitions filed at or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025 must be accompanied by an additional $100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.
Published by: The Times of India - October 21, 2025
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/uscis-exempts-f-1-to-h-1b-…
Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:
Published by: Newsweek - October 30, 2025
Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:
Rajiv S. Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration.com, said: “Status determinations are often complex and sometimes arbitrary. Months later, USCIS can find a status violation that was not anticipated, resulting in a $100,000 bill!”