Recent Immigration Updates

On December 2, 2025 USCIS issued a new Policy Memorandum: “Hold and Review of all Pending Asylum Applications and all USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from High-Risk Countries.”

Effective immediately, the memorandum directs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to:

• Place a hold on all asylum applications regardless of the alien’s country of nationality;
• Place a hold on pending immigration benefit requests for individuals subject to the previously announced travel ban; and
• Conduct a comprehensive re-review of approved immigration benefit requests for individuals subject to the travel ban.

In addition, on December 3, 2025, the Department of State (DOS) announced that, effective December 15, 2025, it has implemented new procedures for vetting the online presence of applicants for H-1B and H-4 visas. This is similar to the procedures that applied to F, M, and J visa applicants effective June 18, 2025.

The new DOS directive also instructs H-1B and H-4 applicants to ensure that the privacy settings on their social media accounts are set to “public” to facilitate screening. Consular officers will then review applicants’ online presence prior to making any decision on the visa application.