The President’s executive order (EO) issued last night is limited in scope and not as broad as feared from his tweet to shut down all immigration into the US. It only applies to new applicants for immigrant visas outside the US before US Consulates.
It does not apply to those already in the US nor those outside the US applying for employment-based nonimmigrant visas such as H, O, E, and TN.
Students, faculty, and staff already in the US are able to continue their immigration processing without change. The following USC immigration applications and processes remain unaffected and will continue to be accepted and adjudicated by the immigration services:
- H-1B & H-1B1 petitions – This includes change of status (COS) to H-1B, extension of status (EOS), change of employer (COE), and consular processing for an H-1B visa outside of the US;
- O-1 petitions – This includes change of status (COS) to O-1, extension of status (EOS), change of employer (COE), and consular processing for an O-1 visa outside of the US;
- TN petitions – This includes change of status (COS) to TN, extension of status (EOS), change of employer (COE), and consular/border processing for an TN outside of the US;
- E-3 petitions – This includes change of status (COS) to E-3 extension of status (EOS), change of employer (COE), and consular processing for an E-3 visa outside of the US;
- PERM applications (both Special Handling and Regular); and
- I-140 immigrant visa petitions.
FSVS is monitoring the situation closely and will provide analysis and updates if there are any changes. Please contact your visa specialist to review if the EO will impact you if your matter falls outside the above categories.