The Trump administration is preparing one of the most extensive overhauls of its legal immigration system in recent years, with the administration laying out a broad regulatory agenda that could reshape the experience of foreign workers, international students and employers alike. The proposals, spread across the latest regulatory agendas released by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of State (DOS), cover almost every major pathway used by skilled immigrants. Unlike legislation passed by Congress, these changes are being pursued through the federal rulemaking process, meaning most of them are not yet law and will first appear as proposed regulations before moving through public consultation and review. According to Goodreturns, these proposals offer the clearest indication yet of the direction the administration wants to take on legal immigration, with changes expected to increase paperwork for employers, raise hiring costs, make visa renewals more stringent and create fresh uncertainty for Indian professionals and students, who form one of the largest immigrant communities in the United States.
Indian professionals pursuing US employment-based Green Cards continue to face prolonged processing delays, with the US Department of Labor (DOL) now reviewing PERM labour certification applications filed in June 2025 or earlier, highlighting a backlog of about one year. According to the latest processing update released by the DOL, as of June 30, 2026, analysts were reviewing PERM applications submitted in June 2025, while applications selected for audit were being processed only if they had been filed by December 2025. The update offers the latest snapshot of processing timelines for employers sponsoring foreign workers for permanent residency through the PERM labour certification programme. As per Goodreturns, these procedural changes can directly affect Indian IT companies, students, professionals and their families, with thousands of Indian students also traveling to American universities annually while many families continue waiting for employment-based Green Cards due to decades-long backlogs.
The Department of Labor is preparing to modernize the PERM labour certification programme, the first formal stage of most employment-based green card applications. The current PERM framework has remained largely unchanged since 2004, and the proposed overhaul would update recruitment procedures to reflect contemporary hiring practices and technological developments that have transformed the labour market over the past two decades. Additionally, the Department of Labor is preparing new prevailing wage regulations covering H-1B visas, H-1B1 visas, E-3 visas and employment-based green card sponsorship through the PERM labour certification process. The proposal would raise the minimum wage threshold for entry-level positions from the current 17th percentile to the 34th percentile for a particular occupation and geographic area, requiring employers to offer substantially higher salaries before sponsoring foreign professionals. According to Goodreturns, the proposal is likely to particularly affect consulting and IT services companies that place employees at client locations-a business model widely used by Indian technology firms, along with tighter recruitment requirements to ensure employers first consider qualified American workers before hiring foreign nationals.
The administration is preparing to replace one of the defining features of the current student visa framework — the "duration of status" system. At present, most F-1 student visa holders are admitted for the duration of their approved academic programme, as long as students remain enrolled, comply with visa conditions and maintain their academic status, they are generally permitted to stay in the United States without having to repeatedly renew their authorised period of stay. The proposed regulation would replace that arrangement with fixed admission periods, where students would receive permission to stay only until a predetermined expiration date. The proposal completed review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in June and is expected to move forward through the regulatory process, with earlier draft proposals suggesting a maximum validity period of four years before extensions would become necessary. As per Goodreturns, this change could directly affect Indian students who form a significant portion of the international student community in the United States.
The administration is expected to finalize a regulation ending the automatic extension that currently allows certain applicants to continue working while their renewal applications remain under review. Under the existing system, eligible individuals whose work authorisation is due to expire may continue employment for a temporary period provided they have submitted a timely renewal application. The proposed rule would formally remove that safeguard, instead requiring applicants to stop working once their existing employment authorisation expires and wait until US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approves their renewal request before returning to work. This change is expected to have a particularly significant impact on H-4 visa holders who possess Employment Authorization Documents, as many are spouses of H-1B professionals progressing through lengthy employment-based green card processes. However, recent USCIS guidance clarifies that some aliens who timely filed Form I-765 before October 30, 2025, may still receive automatic extensions of up to 540 days while their renewal applications remain pending, provided they have qualifying eligibility categories including A03, A05, A07, A08, A10, A17, A18, C08, C09, C10, C16, C20, C22, C24, C26, C31, and A12 or C19. According to Goodreturns, these changes could reshape the immigration journey for Indian professionals planning to work in the US, students preparing for higher education and families awaiting Green Cards, though the final rules will determine how significant that impact ultimately becomes.
