Employers, universities and visa holders should expect the Trump administration to enact more immigration restrictions in 2026 and 2027. Trump officials will likely finalize proposed rules to raise salary requirements for H-1B professionals and employment-based immigrants. The administration will also propose new rules to restrict employers, visa holders and international students seeking to work after graduation. Companies and individuals also face tougher adjudications, more aggressive Labor Department oversight and difficulty obtaining visa interviews.
{snip}
In March 2026, DOL published a proposed rule that will significantly raise the required prevailing wage and make it more expensive to hire H-1B visa holders and sponsor employment-based immigrants. The proposed rule will increase required minimum salaries by 21% to 33%, depending on a worker’s experience level. The rule’s comment period ends in late May, and DOL will likely attempt to finalize the rule by the end of 2026 or early in 2027.
In August 2025, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule replacing the current “duration of status” policy for international students with fixed admission periods. That rule, expected to be finalized soon, would require government approval for extensions beyond a limited time, making it harder for students in programs longer than four years and potentially discouraging them from studying in the United States. Applicants may reconsider the risk of attending a U.S. university: if they do not finish their program within the set period, they could be forced to leave before earning a degree.
{snip}
Trump officials are expected to propose a rule that will likely further restrict the H-1B visa category. The Trump administration’s new H-1B rule is expected to incorporate elements of its unsuccessful 2020 regulation. The October 2020 rule had two main goals: 1) To make it more challenging for high-skilled foreign nationals to qualify for H-1B status, and 2) to prevent H-1B visa holders from working at customer sites. Judges found that the rule was likely in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because officials attempted to publish it without going through the normal rulemaking process. Trump officials, led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s immigration policies, are unlikely to repeat that mistake.
Another upcoming Trump administration rule is expected to end or restrict Optional Practical Training for international students. The goal of the immigration rule would be to discourage international students from coming to the United States and working after graduation. While businesses and economists believe America gains significantly from welcoming international students to America and allowing them to stay and work, the Trump administration’s immigration policy is run by individuals who believe the opposite.
Optional Practical Training allows international students to work for 12 months in their field of study before or after completing their course requirements. STEM OPT allows students to gain practical experience through working an additional 24 months (beyond OPT) in a science, technology, engineering or math field. For many immigration opponents, ending OPT and STEM OPT is primarily about preventing international students from obtaining H-1B status. The Bush administration favored granting international students an additional 24 months on STEM OPT to improve their chances in the annual H-1B lottery. The administration’s rule to weight the H-1B lottery selection process was aimed primarily at making it more difficult for employers to select recent international students.
{snip}
Denial rates are also rising. According to a recent National Foundation for American Policy analysis, USCIS denial rates increased significantly in the fourth quarter of FY 2025 for an alien with extraordinary ability (in the employment-based first preference, or EB-1, green card category) and for national interest waivers (in the employment-based second preference, or EB-2, green card category). That indicates that adjudicators are denying applications for even the most highly skilled individuals in the world.
{snip}
The post New Immigration Restrictions on H-1B Visas and Students Are Coming appeared first on American Renaissance.
American RenaissanceRead More
T1
