The U.S. government has recently announced two key changes in policy that will affect individuals abroad as well as those already present in the United States who are seeking or have already been granted immigration benefits.
On December 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that, effective December 15, 2025, it will conduct an "online presence review" for all H-1B applicants and their dependents applying for H-4 visas. The online presence review requires the DOS to conduct a thorough review of a visa applicant’s online activities, in order to find potentially derogatory information about applicants, including undisclosed arrests, indications of hostility toward the U.S., support for foreign terrorists, or antisemitism.
Affected applicants with appointments on or after December 15, 2025, must adjust their privacy settings on all social media profiles to "public," according to the announcement. We expect this expansion of the online presence review to potentially trigger administrative processing, which can mean lengthy delays in adjudication, or even immediate denial of applications for those whom the DOS determines to pose a threat to U.S. national security or public safety based on their social media posts.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also recently issued a policy memorandum that places a hold on new and additional reviews of existing benefit applications filed with the USCIS for foreign nationals born in or citizens of certain "high-risk" countries. Those countries include Afghanistan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The policy effectively implements an indefinite pause on adjudication of all immigration benefits including green cards and extension of non-immigrant petitions for individuals who were born in or are citizens of those countries. It may also mean revisiting immigration benefits already granted to individuals in the U.S. Within 90 days, USCIS will prioritize a list of such cases for review (including interview, re-interview, and referral to law enforcement) as appropriate. We anticipate legal challenges will be filed to halt this policy.
Immigration Project Manager Amy Hilton Schuler contributed to this alert.
Check out our Immigration team’s analysis of recent policy changes and their implications for businesses by clicking here.
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