Add Your Voice to Continue Work Permit Extensions for Immigrants

• Submit a personalized, public comment urging USCIS to withdraw this rule.  

• You can use the American Immigration Council’s template comment to submit a comment. The template can be changed to include your personal examples to explain how the rule would hurt your business and community. Real-life examples are the best way to make your comment strong and effective.  

• Comments are due by 11:59 P.M. ET on Monday, December 1, 2025.   

• Contact your Member of Congress to ask them to urge USCIS to rescind the rule. 

• Linked here is a recording from the virtual briefing, “How new work permit changes will impact your business and state,” held on November 19, 2025, hosted by WorkPermits.US, Critical Labor Coalition, AILA, Fwd.US, and the Council. Linked here are slides from this webinar.  

• Linked here is an explainer from WorkPermits.US that includes more information on the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents Status, as well as information on two additional rules that are expected to come out mid-December 2025. 

• A proposed rule from the Trump administration, if enacted, will restrict or end post-graduation optional practical training (OPT) for people on student (F-1) visas.  

• OPT allows international students to work in the U.S. for up to 12 months (or up to 3 years for graduates in a STEM field) after graduating from a U.S. university. OPT is a bridge from graduation to longer-term employment in the U.S. for international students – without it, these students will face barriers to securing employment in the country. Combined with an upcoming change to the H-1B visa lottery system that will favor higher-paying roles, this could potentially hamper a key global talent pipeline for U.S. businesses.  

• For more information, read this analysis.  

• The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is expected to publish a new rule in which USCIS officers would consider “country-specific factors” for green card and other immigration status applications. A “significant negative factor” for a country would include being on the Trump administration’s travel ban list.  

• This will impact immigrants already in the country. For example, if an immigrant from Afghanistan is applying for a green card, their application may be denied because their country of origin is on the travel ban list.  

• On October 2, 2025, through a new rule, the Trump administration changed how wages for H-2A visa workers are calculated, effectively allowing farmers to pay those workers less.  

• On November 21, 2025, the United Farm Workers, alongside other groups, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in California, alleging that the change will “undercut and adversely affect” wages paid to U.S. workers. They are seeking to halt the implementation of the rule.  

• USCIS posted a new rule to rescind the Biden administration’s 2022 public charge rule. The proposed change would expand the scope of what is considered a public benefit to include “means-tested benefits,” such as SNAP, and would give broader discretion to immigration officers evaluating applications.  

• For more, read the National Immigration Law Center’s explainer on this proposed rule. 

• Special Report: Where Can You Win in Immigration Court? 

• Special Report: A Look Back at the Family Separation Policy 

• Factsheet: Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces 

• Blog: The Trump Administration’s New Mass Deportation Playbook 

• Blog: USCIS Ends Automatic Extensions for Most Work Permits, Placing Immigrant Workers and Employers in Limbo 

• Blog: USCIS Implements the H-1B Proclamation $100,000 Fee 

• How the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program is Overseen and Enforced 

• More factsheets and research from the Council can be found here. 

Senior Policy Manager, State and Local Initiatives

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
[email protected]

American Immigration Council
www.AmericanImmigrationCouncil.org