2025
Year in Review

As 2025 comes to a close, we have to reflect on the most chaotic year for immigration law practice in memory. Though we like to consider ourselves positive people with optimistic outlooks, this year has been challenging.

Let’s look at some of the things that happened in US immigration this year:

• During President Donald Trump’s first week in office, he signed numerous executive orders seeking to limit channels for legal immigration and initiate enforcement actions against anyone in the U.S. without legal status.

• The COVID vaccination requirement was removed from Green Card applications

• The number of ICE arrests soared in 2025. Though the stated purpose is to remove criminals who are present in the U.S. without authorization, many subject to these enforcement actions have no criminal record. 

• USCIS has been directed to initiate removal proceedings against anyone with denied benefits requests if they do not have any underlying status, resulting in far more cases being referred to immigration court. 

• Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela was cancelled (though the action was litigated for most of the year)

• The government required anyone in the U.S. without status to “register”

• Student visas were cancelled, and reinstated

• Humanitarian parole programs for Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela were cancelled, though the U4U program that is available for citizens of Ukraine remains intact.

• A $100,000 fee was imposed on US employers seeking to sponsor foreign nationals for H1B visas.  Though the fee will not apply to anyone changing status to H1B within the U.S., the $100,000 fee still applies to any applicants who are abroad.

• The Gold Card was announced in September and launched in December, allowing any foreign national who gifts the U.S. $1,000,000 and passes stringent vetting procedures to obtain a green card in the EB-1 or EB-2 category.

• The government shut down, but O-1 petitions, EB-1 green cards, and family-based immigration cases continued processing.

• ICE took green card applicants with no criminal history into custody at their green card interviews. 

• The State Department is requiring all non-immigrant visas to be processed in applicants’ country of citizenship or residency.

• USCIS announced suspension of adjudication of all immigration benefits, including non-immigrant visa petitions such as H-1B, O-1, and L-1 for citizens of 19 countries. 

• The U.S. State Department has issued guidance to deny visas, specifically H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, to individuals with a history of fact-checking or content moderation.