Worldwide: General Immigration

On August 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a combined $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI OpCo LLC and its subsidiary Statsig Inc.

The U.S. Department of State has established a Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force to combat the misuse of nonimmigrant visas by individuals traveling to the United States primarily to give birth and secure U.S. citizenship for their children. This initiative has already resulted in over 600 visa revocations worldwide and signals heightened government coordination in identifying birth tourism networks and holding travelers accountable. The task force works across federal agencies to analyze travel patterns,

La visa O-1 ofrece una vía flexible para profesionales con habilidades extraordinarias, pero construir un caso sólido requiere más que reunir premios y logros. ¿Cómo puede un solicitante organizar estratégicamente la evidencia, demostrar impacto real y estructurar una petición que cumpla con los estándares legales de USCIS? Esta guía detalla los pasos críticos para fundadores, investigadores, ejecutivos y artistas que buscan trabajar en Estados Unidos.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to eliminate the 60-day grace period that currently allows terminated noncitizen workers to remain in valid status while seeking new sponsorship or making departure arrangements. This proposed rule change would significantly compress the timeline for affected employees and their families to respond to unexpected job loss, potentially requiring immediate departure from the United States.

As employers have experienced staffing shortages over the last year, the Trump administration has been ending many forms of work authorization by terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the foreign nationals of numerous countries, including Haiti,1 Venezuela,2 Afghanistan, Honduras, and Syria,3 ending the parole for CHNV4 parolees effective May 30, 2025, and eliminating the 540-day extension for TPS-related timely filed EAD renewals.5

On Aug. 13, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a precedential decision in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, overruling Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly (2012). The BIA held that travel outside the United States pursuant to a grant of advance parole constitutes a “departure” for purposes of the unlawful presence inadmissibility provisions under INA Section 212(a)(9)(B).

The pace of change in employment authorization policy has long been relentless, but the developments of the last several days have been particularly significant. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released updated guidance, courts permitted several Temporary Protected Status (TPS) terminations to proceed, and a stay was denied in litigation challenging the TPS provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Aug. 5, 2026, issued Policy Alert PA-2026-05 updating and significantly shifting the USCIS Policy Manual provisions governing evidence, denials, and post-decision actions. The update clarifies that USCIS, in its discretion, may deny immigration benefit requests that lack required initial evidence or otherwise fail to establish eligibility without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID).

The landscape for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and humanitarian parole continues to change rapidly, creating uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals and posing significant compliance challenges for U.S. employers.