In anticipation of President-Elect Donald Trump’s return to office on January 20, 2025, employers should begin preparing for substantial changes in immigration policies that will impact the hiring, employment and retention of their foreign national workforce.

While more specific details about the Trump Administration’s business immigration policies will unfold over the coming months, we can look to the first Trump Administration’s actions and 2024 campaign promises for guidance on potential changes. We anticipate that immigration policies will become more restrictive and, in turn, will increase scrutiny, costs, and processing times and generate more government compliance and enforcement actions. Employers need to begin preparing for these changes and work with their Pryor Cashman attorney to review their immigration programs and implement strategies to navigate these challenges successfully.

Here are some of the potential changes that we anticipate under the new administration:

Increased Government Processing Times, Filing Requirements, and Costs:

• Premium processing adjudication may be suspended at times, including during the upcoming H-1B cap season, which will significantly increase United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) processing times.
• Increased scrutiny of immigration petitions and applications at USCIS should be expected which may result in higher rates of Requests for Evidence and petition denials, as well as the rescinding of a long-standing USCIS policy memorandum giving deference to prior approved petitions.
• Immigration petitions and applications may become more costly to prepare as USCIS will likely require substantially more supporting evidence to demonstrate the beneficiary meets the visa eligibility requirements.

Rescission or Termination of Certain Immigration Options for Foreign Nationals:

• The Trump Administration may terminate the DACA program, allow Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations to expire and not be renewed, and end certain humanitarian parole programs (such as Uniting for Ukraine).
• The termination or truncation of the F-1 STEM program is also of concern. The F-1 STEM provision currently allows STEM graduates to gain an additional 24 months of work authorization after their initial 12-month OPT period.

Increase Compliance and Enforcement Action:

• Employers should prepare for increased audits of Forms I-9 employment eligibility verification programs.
• Employers should also prepare for increased inspections and site visits by USCIS’s Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) division on compliance such as H-1B programs.
• The Department of Labor (DOL) may increase audits of PERM labor certification applications, the Labor Condition Application (LCA), and Public Access File compliance.

Implementing Policies that Slow the Green Card Process and Naturalization Process:

• USCIS may reinstitute mandatory interviews for employment-based green card applications before the case can be fully adjudicated, thereby increasing processing times and workloads at local USCIS field offices.
• USCIS may implement a new Naturalization Application (Form N-400) civics exam which will make it more challenging to become a U.S. citizen.

Travel Bans and Extreme Vetting for Foreign Nationals Seeking to Enter the United States:

• Travel bans may be announced with little notice that bar individuals who are born in or are citizens of certain countries from entering the United States, and/or implement “extreme vetting” which means additional security and screening checks that would delay visa issuance and applications for immigration benefits.
• Overall visa processing times and backlogs at US consulates all around the world may lengthen due to increased security checks and vetting that could impact when a foreign national could enter the United States and begin working.

U.S. immigration is a complex and continuously changing area of the law. Under the new Trump Administration, employers will face renewed challenges. By working closely with your Pryor Cashman attorney, we can guide you in the planning and implementation of policies and procedures to navigate this anticipated complex and dynamic landscape.