HelloStampedCertain DHS Immigration-Related Fees Required by HR-1: Fiscal Year 2027 Adjustments for Inflation
DHS is raising two immigration enforcement fees to $5,300 each for fiscal year 2027, as required by HR-1.
- Green Card
- H-1B
Updated
Guides
The paperwork, explained once and kept current
Plain-English guides to the paperwork, deadlines and money decisions that come with living in the US on a visa — official rules and community experience, always labelled separately and always dated.
Green Card 16 guides
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment-Based Immigrant Visa, Fifth Preference (EB-5) Fee Rule
USCIS is changing the fees for EB-5 immigration benefit requests.
- Green Card
- I-140
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Controlled Substance Trafficking, Significant Trafficking in Persons, and Money Laundering Grounds of Inadmissibility
USCIS is updating its Policy Manual with guidance on who is barred from entering the US due to controlled substance trafficking, trafficking in persons, or money laundering under INA section 212(a)(2…
- Green Card
- H-1B
- H-4
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Registration of Lawful Permanent Residence for Children Born to Foreign Government Employees in the United States
USCIS has updated its Policy Manual with new guidance on how children born in the United States to foreign government employees can be registered as lawful permanent residents.
- Green Card
- Family
Updated
Visa Bulletin for September 2026
The September 2026 Visa Bulletin sets the cut-off dates that determine whether your employment-based or family-sponsored green card application can move forward or be filed.
- Green Card
- I-140
- PERM
Updated
Inflation Adjustment for EOIR OBBBA Fees; Fiscal Year 2027
The Department of Justice is raising EOIR immigration filing fees for Fiscal Year 2027 to account for inflation, as required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- Green Card
- H-1B
- F-1
Updated
Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension, Without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection: E-Verify+
USCIS is renewing its approval to collect information through E-Verify+ with no changes to the program.
- Green Card
- Jobs
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Suggesting DNA Testing When Issuing a Request for Additional Evidence
USCIS officers must now suggest DNA testing as an optional way to prove a family relationship when your existing documents are missing, unreliable, or not enough.
- Green Card
- Citizenship
- Family
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility
USCIS is updating its policy on the public charge ground of inadmissibility.
- Green Card
- H-1B
- H-4
Updated
Visa Bulletin for August 2026
The August 2026 Visa Bulletin sets priority date cutoffs for employment-based and family-sponsored green cards.
- Green Card
- PERM
- I-140
Updated
Changing jobs without losing your place in the green card line
Once your adjustment application has been pending long enough, you can move to a new employer and keep the case — and the priority date — you already have. The two conditions are a length of time and a likeness between the jobs.
- Green Card
- H-1B
- Jobs
Updated
Will your child age out of the family's green card?
A child stops counting as a child at 21, and for families waiting years in line that birthday can arrive first. The Child Status Protection Act subtracts the time the petition sat with the government — here is how that subtraction works and the one-year deadline that switches it on.
- Green Card
- Family
Updated
Can you leave the country while your green card is pending?
Leaving the United States while your adjustment application is pending can be treated as giving it up — unless you got permission first, or you are in one of the statuses that is specifically excepted. Here is which of those you are in.
- Green Card
- H-1B
- Travel
Updated
Filing fees: where to check, and why we do not quote them
Fees change, and a fee quoted from anywhere other than the agency on the day you file may be wrong. Here is the one place to look.
- Green Card
- OPT
- H-1B
Updated
Adjustment of status and consular processing end in the same green card
Both routes end in permanent residence. One happens inside the United States on Form I-485, the other at a consulate abroad.
- Green Card
- Travel
Updated
How to read the Visa Bulletin without guessing
The State Department publishes two charts every month, and which one applies to you depends on an announcement USCIS makes separately. Here is what each column means.
- Green Card
- I-140
Updated
H-1B 10 guides
Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension, Without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection: e-Request Tool
USCIS is asking OMB to renew approval for the e-Request Tool data collection, with no changes to the tool.
- H-1B
- Green Card
Updated
Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension, Without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection: Employment Eligibility Verification
USCIS is asking OMB to renew approval for the Employment Eligibility Verification form (I-9) collection without any changes.
- H-1B
- OPT
- STEM OPT
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Evidence, Requests for Evidence, and Notices of Intent to Deny
USCIS is updating its policy guidance on evidence standards, Requests for Evidence (RFEs), and Notices of Intent to Deny (NOIDs).
- H-1B
- I-140
- Green Card
Updated
Premium processing has a clock, and a request for evidence restarts it
Premium processing buys a guaranteed period for USCIS to act. It does not buy an approval, and it does not buy a date. What surprises people is what counts as acting — and what stops the count and starts it again from nothing.
- H-1B
- I-140
- Green Card
Updated
The $100,000 H-1B payment: what it applies to, and where it stands now
A 2025 presidential proclamation attached a $100,000 payment to new H-1B petitions. A court vacated the guidance implementing it in June 2026 and the government is complying while it considers what to do next. It never applied to extensions, renewals or people already holding an H-1B.
- H-1B
- Jobs
Updated
Staying on H-1B past the sixth year
H-1B normally stops at six years. Two provisions of the same 2000 law let you go past it while a green card case is under way — one gives a year at a time, the other up to three. Which applies depends on how far along your case is.
- H-1B
- Green Card
- Jobs
Updated
Laid off on a work visa: the first 48 hours
A short, ordered checklist for the moment it happens, so nothing that is time-limited gets missed while you are dealing with everything else.
- H-1B
- H-4
- OPT
Updated
The H-1B cap: 65,000, the master's exemption, and who is exempt entirely
Most new H-1B petitions go through an annual numerical cap and an electronic registration. Some employers are outside it altogether.
- H-1B
- Jobs
Updated
Changing employers on an H-1B: what portability actually allows
You do not have to wait for an approval notice to start a new job on an H-1B. Here is what the portability rule says and what has to be true for it to apply to you.
- H-1B
- Jobs
Updated
What to do when your H-1B employment ends: the 60-day grace period
If your H-1B job ends, federal regulation gives you a discretionary grace period of up to 60 days to find another employer, change your status, or leave. Here is exactly how long you have and what starts the clock.
- H-1B
- Jobs
Updated
Travel 7 guides
Establishment of Four Customs-Enforcement Areas
CBP has declared four Customs-Enforcement Areas (CEAs) in coastal waters off South Florida, Central/Southern California, Puerto Rico, and the Gulf Coast of Texas.
- Travel
Updated
Withdrawal of International Airport Designation of Chalk Seaplane Base
The US government proposes to remove international airport status from Miami Seaplane Base (formerly Chalk Seaplane Base).
- Travel
Updated
Visas: Visa Bond Program
The US government is making its Visa Bond Program permanent.
- Travel
Updated
You have 10 days to tell USCIS you moved, and the post office does not count
Almost every non-citizen in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving. It is a criminal offence not to, and it can make you deportable. A USPS forwarding order does nothing.
- H-1B
- H-4
- F-1
Updated
Most people are already registered. Carrying the proof is not automatic
Most people who entered on a visa and have an I-94 are already registered and do not need to file anything. What does apply to nearly everyone: if you are 18 or over you must carry evidence of registration at all times, and a child who turns 14 here has 30 days to re-register.
- H-1B
- H-4
- F-1
Updated
What actually happens when you land and show your papers
A visa lets you travel to the border and ask to come in. The officer at the counter is the one who decides, and being sent to a second room is a routine step rather than a verdict. Here is what is being checked and by whom.
- H-1B
- F-1
- Green Card
Updated
Your I-94 is the date that matters, not your visa stamp
The visa in your passport controls entry. The I-94 controls how long you may stay. People confuse the two and miss the deadline that actually applies to them.
- H-1B
- F-1
- H-4
Updated
F-1 5 guides
On-campus work: 20 hours, and what actually counts as on campus
An F-1 student may work on campus without asking USCIS for anything. The limit is 20 hours a week while school is in session, full-time on vacation — and "on campus" means something narrower than working in a building on campus.
- F-1
- Jobs
- Education
Updated
Changing school, major or degree level as an F-1 student after September 2026
The same final rule that ends duration of status also restricts moving between schools, majors and degree levels. For graduate students the restrictions are close to absolute, and they apply from 15 September 2026.
- F-1
- Education
Updated
Duration of status is ending: your F-1 will have an expiry date
From 15 September 2026, F-1 students are admitted until a fixed date printed on the I-94 instead of for "duration of status". Which rules apply to you depends on when you were admitted — and students already in the United States keep most of what they have.
- F-1
- OPT
- STEM OPT
Updated
Your student record was switched off. What now?
A terminated SEVIS record ends your student status and the work permission attached to it. There are two ways back — asking to be reinstated, or leaving and returning on a new record — and one deadline that decides whether the first is still open.
- F-1
- Education
Updated
Maintaining F-1 status: the things that actually end it
F-1 status depends on a small number of concrete obligations. Most problems come from a lapse in one of them rather than from anything dramatic.
- F-1
- Education
Updated
Citizenship 4 guides
POLICY ALERT - Non-Governmental, Nonpartisan Organization Voter Registration Services at Administrative Naturalization Ceremonies
USCIS has reversed a 2025 policy and now allows nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations to help new citizens register to vote at administrative naturalization ceremonies, when state or local election of…
- Citizenship
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Investigations and Examinations for Naturalization Eligibility
USCIS is updating its policy to more thoroughly check whether naturalization applicants are eligible.
- Citizenship
Updated
POLICY ALERT - Participation of Non-Governmental Organizations at Administrative Naturalization Ceremonies
USCIS is temporarily allowing nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations to distribute and collect voter registration forms at administrative naturalization ceremonies, and to register new citizens to vote…
- Citizenship
Updated
When you are eligible to file the N-400
Naturalization has a small number of hard requirements: time as a permanent resident, continuous residence, physical presence, and the tests.
- Citizenship
- Green Card
- Family
Updated
Employment 3 guides
An offer letter and an employment agreement are not the same document
One announces terms. The other creates obligations, some of which outlive the job. Both usually arrive in the same week and get signed in the same five minutes.
- Jobs
Updated
Contract, corp-to-corp and staffing are three different things
Contract describes how long a job lasts. W-2 and 1099 describe how you are paid. Corp-to-corp describes which two companies signed. Recruiters use the words interchangeably and they are not interchangeable.
- OPT
- STEM OPT
- H-1B
Updated
W-2 or 1099: which one are you, and why it is not a preference
W-2 and 1099 describe how you are paid and taxed. They say nothing about what your immigration status permits, and the classification is decided by the facts of the working relationship rather than by what the contract calls you.
- Jobs
- Taxes
Updated
Estate 3 guides
US estate tax turns on domicile, which is a third test again
Your immigration status is not your tax residency, and neither of them decides estate tax. That runs on domicile, and the gap between the two answers it chooses from is very large.
- H-1B
- H-4
- Green Card
Updated
Naming a guardian is a nomination, not an appointment
A court decides who raises your children, and it is not bound by the name in your will. What you write still matters enormously - it is the only direction a judge will ever have from you.
- H-1B
- H-4
- Green Card
Updated
What a will does, and the four things it never touches
Most of what an immigrant family owns in America does not pass under a will. Knowing which parts do is the difference between a plan and a document.
- H-1B
- H-4
- Green Card
Updated
Jobs 3 guides
Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of a Currently Approved Collection: E-Verify Program
USCIS is submitting a revised information collection request for the E-Verify Program to the Office of Management and Budget.
- Jobs
Updated
Rescission of Coordinated Enforcement Regulations
The Department of Labor is cancelling internal rules that set out how three of its agencies coordinated enforcement for migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
- Jobs
Updated
Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service Staffing
The US Department of Labor is removing the rule that required states to use State merit staff to run Employment Service offices.
- Jobs
Updated
OPT 3 guides
Your work permit was approved and posted, and it never arrived
USCIS treats a card that was produced and mailed but not delivered as its own problem, with its own route that is not a new application. Here is that route, and when a replacement does not cost you a second time.
- OPT
- STEM OPT
- H-4
Updated
Form I-765 and the employment authorization document
The EAD is the card that proves you may work. Form I-765 is how you ask for it, and the eligibility category on the form decides everything else.
- OPT
- STEM OPT
- H-4
Updated
How many unemployment days you have on OPT
Post-completion OPT allows 90 days of unemployment in total. The STEM extension adds 60 more, for 150 across both. Going over ends your status.
- OPT
- F-1
- Jobs
Updated
Safety 3 guides
What a fake job offer looks like, and why new graduates are targeted
A job offer that arrives by email from overseas, or asks you to pay to receive it, is the shape USCIS names as a scam. And even a real offer does not let you work — that depends on your own status, not on the employer's enthusiasm.
- F-1
- OPT
- STEM OPT
Updated
Who is actually allowed to give you immigration advice
Only two kinds of people may represent you before USCIS: an attorney, or an accredited representative at a Department of Justice recognised organisation. A consultant or a notario is neither — and you may not need anybody at all.
- Green Card
- H-1B
- F-1
Updated
Is this really USCIS? What they never ask for
The quickest way to recognise an immigration scam is to know the short list of things USCIS never does. It never asks you to pay a person, never takes gift cards, and never messages you on your personal social media.
- H-1B
- F-1
- Green Card
Updated
Banking 2 guides
Getting a Social Security number
An SSN is needed for payroll, and it is issued by the Social Security Administration rather than by an immigration agency. What you need depends on your status.
- F-1
- OPT
- H-1B
Updated
Building a credit score when you have just arrived
A U.S. credit file starts empty, and the things that build it are specific and slow. Here is what actually goes into the score.
- Banking
Updated
CPT 2 guides
CPT is harder to get authorised: what SEVP told the schools
In August 2026 SEVP warned designated school officials that it is increasing scrutiny of CPT, and that authorising it improperly can cost a school its certification. No regulation changed. What changed is the standard a school has to be ready to defend before it signs your Form I-20.
- CPT
- F-1
- Education
Updated
Twelve months of full-time CPT removes OPT eligibility at that degree level
CPT is work authorization tied to your curriculum, authorized by your school rather than by USCIS. Twelve months or more of full-time CPT removes your OPT eligibility at that degree level.
- CPT
- F-1
- Jobs
Updated
PERM 2 guides
Labor Surplus Area Classification
The US government has announced the Labor Surplus Area list for Fiscal Year 2027.
- PERM
- Jobs
Updated
PERM: what the labour certification step is actually testing
PERM is a Department of Labor process, not a USCIS one. It tests whether qualified U.S. workers are available for the role, and it comes before the I-140.
- PERM
- Green Card
- Jobs
Updated
Case delay 1 guide
Your case is past its inquiry date: what you can actually do
There are four published routes when a USCIS case is sitting: the case inquiry, the expedite request, a congressional inquiry, and the CIS Ombudsman. Each has its own eligibility threshold and its own limits, and none of them can order USCIS to decide.
Updated
Education 1 guide
30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Annual Report-J-NONIMMIGRANT Exchange Visitor Program
The Department of State is asking the public to comment on a proposed information collection related to the J nonimmigrant Exchange Visitor Program annual report.
- Education
- Travel
Updated
H-4 1 guide
H-4 status and when an H-4 spouse can work
H-4 is the dependent status for the spouse and unmarried children under 21 of an H-1B holder. Work authorization is separate, and it depends on where the H-1B holder is in the green card process.
- H-4
- H-1B
- Family
Updated
I-140 1 guide
Priority dates, and what happens to yours when you change jobs
Your priority date is your place in the queue. An approved I-140 generally lets you keep it, and a pending I-485 can let you change employers without starting again.
- I-140
- Green Card
- PERM
Updated
Money 1 guide
Money you may have forgotten. One name, two minutes, and the search is free
Deposits, final paychecks and refunds do not follow you to a new address. After a stretch of inactivity the company must hand the money to a state government, and asking for it back is free. About one in seven people has something waiting, and moving is not what creates it — moving is what stops the company reaching you first.
- F-1
- OPT
- STEM OPT
Updated
Relocation 1 guide
Telling the three agencies you are leaving for good
Going home permanently is not the same as a long trip, and three separate agencies have to be told in different ways. None of them hears it from the others.
- Green Card
- H-1B
- H-4
Updated
STEM OPT 1 guide
The 24-month STEM OPT extension: who qualifies and when to file
The STEM extension adds 24 months to post-completion OPT. It needs an E-Verify employer, a signed training plan, and a filing window that closes when your current EAD expires.
- STEM OPT
- OPT
- F-1
Updated
Taxes 1 guide
Are you a resident for tax purposes? The substantial presence test
Tax residency is not the same thing as immigration status. The Internal Revenue Service applies its own test, and F and J visa holders have an exemption that runs out.
- F-1
- OPT
- H-1B
Updated
More guides 5 guides
POLICY ALERT - Lists of Foreign Diplomatic Officers Accredited to the United States
USCIS is updating its Policy Manual to remove references to the Diplomatic List (the "Blue List"), a document that listed foreign diplomatic officers in the US. The State Department no longer publish…
Updated
Civil Money Penalty for Actions in Contempt of an Immigration Judge's Proper Exercise of Authority
A proposed rule would let Immigration Judges fine certain individuals for acting in contempt of their authority.
Updated
You lost your job on a work visa. You have 60 days.
Losing a sponsored job does not end your status that day. Most people on a work visa get a grace period of up to 60 days to act, and what you do inside that window decides whether you stay. Here is when the clock starts, what it is capped by, and the options that are open while it runs.
Updated
Your marriage ended before the conditions came off your green card
Removing the conditions on a marriage-based green card does not require you to still be married. USCIS provides an individual filing request and three waivers of the joint filing requirement, and which one applies depends on how the marriage ended.
Updated
Your green card is conditional: when to file the I-751
If you got conditional permanent resident status through marriage, you must file Form I-751 to remove those conditions before your status expires. The deadline depends on whether you are filing jointly with your spouse or filing alone, and missing it does not automatically end the matter.
Updated