The latest official guidance, immigration policy developments and upcoming regulatory changes for immigration professionals.
2 NOVEMBER 2026
Official source focused
The Day at a Glance
7
Countries covered
8
Policy and guidance updates
4
Upcoming key dates
Today's Editorial Note
Two items that this briefing carried as upcoming last week have now resolved, and they resolved in opposite directions. Canada's reset arrives tomorrow exactly as scheduled. The DV 2027 lottery did not open at all. That contrast is the useful lesson: a date set by a regulator and a date set by a court are not the same kind of date, and only one of them can disappear overnight.
In This Briefing
Country
Update
Status
United States
Appeals court blocks the DV 2027 lottery from reopening
Big Alert (29/10/2026)
Canada
Express Entry scoring reset goes live tomorrow
Big Alert (03/11/2026)
United States
Ebola attestation mandatory on all US bound flights
Active Alert (03/11/2026)
Australia
Ministerial Direction 123 now in force
Effective (31/10/2026)
New Zealand
Wider business visitor activities and a specialist work route
Updated (20/10/2026)
Netherlands
IND sponsor compliance pilot begins
Effective (01/11/2026)
Germany
Faster recognition of foreign healthcare qualifications
Effective (01/11/2026)
United States
Two comment deadlines on grace period and deference rules
Reminder
South Korea
Visa free entry for Chinese group tourists extended
Updated
Today's Updates
02 NOV 2026
United States
BIG ALERT | DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY | 29 OCTOBER
Appeals court blocks the DV 2027 lottery from reopening
On 29 October, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency stay blocking the district court order that would have forced the State Department to reopen the DV 2027 Diversity Visa lottery on 1 November. The registration window did not open. The appeals court found that the law firm bringing the case had not shown strong enough legal standing, while also noting that it was not endorsing the government's decision to shelve the programme.
Where this stands today
DV 2027 registration is closed. There is no confirmed date for when, or whether, it will open. The stay is temporary while the full appeal is heard, and no hearing date has been set.
Key Point for Consultants
The honest message to a client is that there is nothing to prepare for and no date to work towards, which is harder to deliver than a timeline but is the only version that survives contact with reality. Anyone who paid an agent for a guaranteed DV 2027 application has been scammed, and that conversation is worth having directly rather than waiting for the client to raise it. Registration being free through the official site is the detail that exposes every version of this fraud.
Status: Registration closed; appeal pending with no hearing date
The Express Entry scoring reset goes live tomorrow
From 3 November, the biggest change to Express Entry scoring in years takes effect. A new labour market integration factor awards up to 150 CRS points for Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high wage occupation. Eligible fields include health care, skilled trades, engineering, technology and education.
Wage Tier
Median Pay Against the National Benchmark
Level 1
At least twice the benchmark, earning the most points
Level 2
1.5 to 2 times the benchmark
Level 3
1.3 to 1.5 times the benchmark
The LMIA is no longer required for a qualifying job offer under Express Entry. A temporary public policy also exempts Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades candidates invited from 3 November from related LMIA requirements. Candidates who qualify through both work experience and a job offer receive the higher score, not the two combined.
150 points
Maximum from the new labour market integration factor
2 weeks
Maximum pause in invitation rounds while the pool is rescored
Key Point for Consultants
Every profile is rescored automatically, so a job offer that is not yet recorded on the profile will not be read into the first recalculated score. The quiet first half of November is scheduled rather than a signal, and saying so in advance prevents a fortnight of anxious client messages. Once draws resume, cutoffs will not resemble anything seen this year, which makes any score prediction before the first new round guesswork. The French draw at CRS 407 last week also shows language points have lost none of their value alongside the new factor.
Status: Big Alert; new scoring effective 3 November 2026
ACTIVE ALERT | PUBLIC HEALTH ENTRY RULES | 3 NOVEMBER
Ebola attestation becomes mandatory on every US bound flight tomorrow
At 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 3 November, everyone boarding a flight to the United States from any foreign country must sign an attestation, on paper or digitally, confirming they have not been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the previous 21 days. It covers passengers, airline crew and cargo flight staff alike.
21 days
Lookback period covered by the attestation
42 days
Minimum period airlines must retain copies for inspection
18 Dec
Date the order runs through unless extended
Airlines must refuse boarding to anyone who does not provide the attestation, and false statements can lead to federal criminal charges. The separate entry ban for non citizens who were in South Sudan or Uganda within 21 days remains in place, and US citizens returning from those countries are routed through Dulles, Atlanta or JFK for screening.
Key Point for Consultants
A missed attestation means denied boarding, so this is the rare update where a one line message to every client flying to the United States in the next six weeks is proportionate. Transits are the trap, because a traveller who changed planes at a DRC airport three weeks ago has been in the DRC for the purpose of this order. Itineraries are worth checking before check in, not at the gate, and a false attestation carries criminal exposure rather than a simple refusal.
Status: Active Alert; in force from 3 November through 18 December 2026
Australia's tougher character test framework under Ministerial Direction 123 took effect on 31 October, replacing Direction 110. Personal and family ties to Australia now carry less weight in decisions involving character concerns, and the impact on Australian businesses has been dropped entirely as a consideration. Family violence is defined more broadly to include image based abuse, stalking and breach of court orders, and hate speech and incitement of violence can support a refusal even for temporary visa holders.
The detail that catches people out
Any case decided from 31 October onward falls under the new rules, even if it began months earlier under the old direction.
Key Point for Consultants
Because the trigger is the decision date rather than the lodgement date, submissions written to persuade under Direction 110 may now be arguing weight that no longer exists, particularly anything resting on business impact. Clients with a criminal record, pending charges, a family violence order or a restraining order whose files have not been reviewed since Saturday fall squarely in scope, and these are cases for a registered migration agent or an immigration lawyer rather than a general review.
UPDATED | BUSINESS AND SPECIALIST ROUTES | 20 OCTOBER
Wider business visitor activities and a formal route for specialist contractors
Immigration New Zealand has confirmed expanded activities for Business Visitor Visa holders and a new Specific Purpose Work Visa category, both effective from 20 October.
What business visitors can now do
Take part in informal business training such as observation and theoretical instruction, provided no formal qualification is earned. Conduct management or financial services transactions. Attend tourism conventions as travel agents, tour guides or tour operators.
The Specific Purpose Work Visa now formally recognises Contractual Service Suppliers and Independent Professionals, with requirements covering qualifications, experience, contracts and documentation. Labour market testing may apply in some cases.
Key Point for Consultants
The practical gain sits in reclassification. Short term corporate assignments that were previously filed on a work visa may now fall inside the expanded business visitor activities, which removes both cost and processing time, so the existing playbook is worth rereading before the next file goes out. For specialist contractors, the new category is only an improvement if the contract and documentation requirements are met, which is a question to settle before choosing a route rather than after a refusal.
From 1 November, the Dutch immigration service IND is running a one year pilot for recognised sponsors. For certain small reporting and record keeping mistakes, such as late notification of an expiring residence permit, the IND may first contact the employer, hold an information session or schedule a compliance meeting before issuing a warning or a fine. Fraud, abuse and serious misconduct are excluded. The pilot will be reviewed after twelve months.
Key Point for Consultants
Employers sponsoring Highly Skilled Migrants or EU Blue Card holders gain a buffer for administrative slips and nothing more. The reporting duties themselves are unchanged, so automated reminders for every permit expiry and address change still do the real work. A pilot also carries an end date, which makes this a year of tolerance rather than a new standard.
Status: In effect since 1 November 2026; runs for one year
EFFECTIVE | QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION | 1 NOVEMBER
Faster recognition of foreign healthcare qualifications
A new law took effect on 1 November that speeds up recognition of foreign qualifications for physicians, dentists, pharmacists and midwives working in Germany. Applicants will generally sit a standardised knowledge test instead of waiting months for the previous document by document equivalence review, which had become a serious bottleneck for hospitals trying to fill vacancies.
Key Point for Consultants
Recognition delay, not the visa, has been the real obstacle for healthcare professionals moving to Germany, since a doctor could arrive and still be unable to practise for months. A standardised test converts an open ended wait into something a client can prepare for and schedule. The group this helps most immediately is doctors and nurses from India and the Philippines who already hold German language certification, because for them the language barrier is already behind them.
Two comment deadlines that decide how extensions work
Deadline
Proposed Rule
10 November 2026
Eliminating the 60 day grace period nonimmigrant workers receive after employment ends
13 November 2026
Ending USCIS deference to prior approvals when adjudicating H-1B, L-1, O and TN extensions
Both proposals remain open for public input and neither has taken effect.
Key Point for Consultants
If both are finalised, the consequences compound. A laid off H-1B worker would lose the 60 day window to find a new sponsor, and every extension petition would be built from scratch regardless of how many times the same role was approved before. Comments are the one formal channel employers and attorneys have while these are still proposals, and a single well evidenced submission becomes part of the administrative record that courts later review.
Status: Reminder; comment periods close 10 and 13 November 2026
Visa free entry for Chinese group tourists extended by six months
Prime Minister Kim Min seok confirmed during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Dalian that South Korea will extend its visa free entry programme for Chinese group tourists by another six months. The programme had been due to expire this month. It applies to group travellers only, not to individual Chinese tourists.
Key Point for Consultants
Tour operators handling Chinese group travel to Korea can keep booking without a gap. The group and individual distinction is where errors happen, because an individual traveller assuming the same treatment will arrive without a Korean visa and without a route to one. Extensions also arrive in six month blocks, so the next expiry is worth diarising now rather than discovering it in the spring.
Status: Updated; extended for a further six months
Canada rescores Express Entry and the US Ebola attestation begins
Canadian draws pause for up to two weeks; the attestation starts at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
10 NOVEMBER 2026
Comments close on removing the 60 day grace period
Affects nonimmigrant workers in the United States whose employment ends.
13 NOVEMBER 2026
Comments close on ending USCIS deference to prior approvals
Covers H-1B, L-1, O and TN extension petitions.
18 DECEMBER 2026
US Ebola attestation order expires unless extended
Airlines must retain signed attestations for at least 42 days.
No date has been set for the DV 2027 appeal hearing, so the lottery carries no calendar entry. Dates reflect the information available for this briefing and can move if an authority or a court revises them.
Regional Distribution
Region
Major Updates
North America
4
Europe
2
Oceania
2
Asia
1
Middle East
0
Africa
0
South America
0
Global Coverage Check
No further major announcements found today
Sources were also monitored across the Middle East, South America and other regions. No major new policy change or announcement carrying today's date was identified there.
This reflects the sources identified for this edition and is not a statement that nothing was published anywhere.
Practice Note for Immigration Consultants
Courts move faster than your marketing
The Ninth Circuit blocked DV 2027 on 29 October, one business day before the programme was due to launch. The clients hurt worst were the ones whose consultant had told them it was definitely happening.
A court ordered opening stays conditional until the programme actually goes live. That is not hedging, it is an accurate description of what a stayed order is, and the consultant who said so last week has nothing to walk back this week.
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DV 2027 lottery blocked Ninth CircuitExpress Entry November 3 high wage LMIA removedCDC Ebola attestation November 3 DRCAustralia Ministerial Direction 123 characterNew Zealand business visitor expandedNetherlands IND sponsor pilotGermany healthcare qualification recognitionH-1B 60 day grace period commentH-1B deference comment deadlineSouth Korea China group tourist visaimmigration consultant newsglobal visa update November 2026
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