Processing and vetting changes will affect travelers, visa holders, and employers
The final weeks of 2025 saw a considerable flurry of activity in federal immigration policy. Announcements from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the United States Department of State (DOS) — including adjudication guidance and processing changes, enforcement priorities, and technology-based initiatives —will significantly affect how visa applicants and employers navigate the immigration system in 2026.
What’s Happening?
Visa applicants, current visa holders, and employers can anticipate enhanced screening measures, including new country-based entry restrictions, new biometric entry and exit protocols, and the vetting of an individual’s social media presence. Collectively, these measures are increasing visa denials and revocations and creating significant processing delays.
Travel Ban Expansion
On December 15, the Trump administration expanded the travel ban announced in June 2025 under Presidential Proclamation 10949, which at that time included 19 countries subject to a full or partial travel ban: Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
The most recent proclamation adds seven new countries to the full travel ban list: Laos, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria; and 15 new countries now face partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Weighing Country-Specific Factors in Adjudication
On November 27, 2025, USCIS announced that officials will begin considering country-specific factors when adjudicating immigration benefit requests from foreign nationals from the 19 countries identified in Presidential Proclamation 10949 who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021.
Benefit requests could include adjustment-of-status applications, extensions of nonimmigrant stay, changes of nonimmigrant status, waivers, and applications for employment authorization documents (EADs).
USCIS plans to conduct individualized, case-by-case reviews for all affected applicants. New biometrics, interviews, and other evidence requests may be part of the process. The agency is still compiling priority lists and operational guidance for law enforcement.
Biometric Entry-Exit Rule
Beginning on December 26, 2025, the DHS is requiring most noncitizens to complete biometric identity checks (i.e., facial recognition) when entering and departing the United States. This is the first time biometrics will be used systematically to record departures. Citizens of the United States may opt out of biometrics collection by presenting a valid United States passport.
Expansion of Social Media Vetting
The Trump administration has broadened its security screening rules to include the social media and “online activity” of all H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J visa applicants. In an announcement dated December 3, 2025, and effective December 15, 2025, the Department of State instructs all such visa applicants to adjust the privacy settings on their social media accounts to “public.”
Continuous Vetting
As reported by CNN in August, a State Department official said that the DOS plans to implement a policy of “continuous vetting” of the more than 55 million “foreigners” who hold a United States visa.
In keeping with that goal, the DHS and USCIS announced an interim final rule in October 2025, which eliminated the automatic extensions of certain employment authorization documents (EADs) for most noncitizens who file their renewal applications in a timely manner. Under prior policy guidance, certain foreign nationals who had filed their renewal applications in a timely manner were eligible for an automatic extension of up to 540 days. Now, many noncitizens who file to renew their EADs will not receive their “EAD validity” until USCIS fully evaluates their renewal application.
Then, on December 5, 2025, the USCIS announced the establishment of a USCIS Vetting Center, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. According to the announcement, “once the new vetting center is fully operational, it will draw on the full spectrum of classified and nonclassified screening and vetting capabilities and provide a more thorough supplemental review of immigration applications and petitions. These reviews will leverage state-of-the-art technologies, including artificial intelligence.”
The announcement goes on to say that “the center will utilize Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement and intelligence community screening resources to conduct this critical work and will be tasked with conducting reviews of pending applications as well as a more holistic review of already-approved applications for aliens. Reviews will prioritize applications from presidentially designated countries of concern.”
Considerations
While it is too soon to say precisely how these policies will be implemented and how they will impact the business community, one important and overarching aspect of these recent shifts in immigration policy is the normalization of indefinite delay. Employers who depend on foreign nationals to meet critical operational needs —particularly hospitals, universities, and tech firms — now face new legal and operational risks due to unpredictable enforcement and visa processing delays.
If you have any questions about current employment-based immigration regulations and emerging vetting protocols for foreign nationals currently working in the United States, don’t hesitate to contact Orr & Reno for assistance.
