The latest official guidance, immigration policy developments and upcoming regulatory changes for immigration professionals.
3 NOVEMBER 2026
Official source focused
The Day at a Glance
7
Countries covered
7
Policy and guidance updates
6
Upcoming key dates
Today's Editorial Note
The UK announcement is the largest item this briefing has carried in months, and it is also the one where nothing has legally changed yet. A Statement of Changes is still to come in December. Everything about the framework is now known, which is exactly why the recalculation work starts today rather than when the rules land.
In This Briefing
Country
Update
Status
United Kingdom
Earned settlement framework announced in the Commons
Big Alert (02/11/2026)
Canada
High wage points live and LMIA removed for job offer points
Big Alert (03/11/2026)
United States
CDC Ebola attestation now in effect on all US bound flights
Active Alert (03/11/2026)
Mexico
Online appointments required for three filing categories
Earned settlement framework announced, with ten years as the new default
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out the final shape of the UK's earned settlement system in the House of Commons on 2 November. It is the biggest change to permanent residence in decades. The default qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain moves from five years to ten, with faster and slower routes attached to income, occupation and immigration history.
Period
Who It Applies To
3 years
Earnings above 125,141 pounds a year, and applicants on Global Talent, Innovator Founder and Sportsperson routes
5 years
Earnings above 50,271 pounds, public service workers in education or healthcare, those with a British connection such as partners or parents of British citizens, and refugees arriving through safe and legal routes
10 years
Everyone else, as the new default
20 years
Anyone who has claimed public funds in the past five years, and automatically on any immigration breach
30 years
Anyone who first entered the UK illegally
What dropped out of the consultation version
The fifteen year pathway for medium skilled workers is gone. Volunteering no longer reduces the period. English at C1 no longer shaves a year off.
A new household option lets couples combine earnings to reach a threshold of 25,142 pounds. Every applicant must show B2 English, no criminal record including cautions, no unpaid government debt, and three years of National Insurance contributions assessed at household level.
A Statement of Changes is expected in December 2026, with rules taking effect through 2027. Some care worker provisions start from 1 February 2027.
Key Point for Consultants
Every settlement timeline on every UK work and family file now needs recalculating, because the bracket a client falls into decides whether they are three years away or ten. Skilled Worker clients earning between 50,000 and 125,000 pounds sit in the five year band rather than the current route, and that gap between expectation and reality is where most of this month's difficult conversations will come from. Care workers who may qualify under transitional provisions have a hard edge on 1 February 2027. B2 English is a requirement for everyone regardless of bracket, and it is the one piece of preparation that is useful today rather than after the Statement of Changes.
Status: Announced; Statement of Changes expected December 2026
High wage points go live and the LMIA requirement disappears
Today, 3 November, IRCC's biggest Express Entry reform 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. Health care, skilled trades, engineering, technology and education are among the qualifying fields.
Wage Tier
Median Pay Against the National Benchmark
Level 1
Twice the benchmark or more
Level 2
1.5 to 2 times the benchmark
Level 3
1.3 to 1.5 times the benchmark
An LMIA is no longer required for a job offer to earn Express Entry points. A temporary public policy also exempts eligible Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades candidates invited from today from LMIA requirements. Scores for every profile in the pool are being recalculated automatically, and invitation rounds will pause for up to two weeks while that runs.
Key Point for Consultants
Profiles updated before today are the ones reading into the first recalculated scores. A profile updated now still counts, but its new score may not surface until the pause ends, and nobody should be waiting on an invitation this week. Once draws resume, cutoffs will shift far enough that October patterns are no longer a basis for predicting anything. The LMIA removal genuinely changes what is possible for employers and candidates, and it changes nothing about verification, because officers will still test whether an offer is real.
ACTIVE ALERT | PUBLIC HEALTH ENTRY RULES | IN EFFECT
The Ebola attestation is now in force on every US bound flight
The CDC attestation requirement went live at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 3 November. Everyone boarding an international flight to the United States, whether a passenger, crew member or cargo flight staff, must sign an attestation confirming they have not been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the previous 21 days.
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 carry potential federal criminal charges. The separate entry ban for non citizens who were in South Sudan or Uganda within 21 days remains in force, and US citizens returning from those countries are routed through Dulles, Atlanta or JFK for health screening.
Key Point for Consultants
A missed attestation means no boarding, which makes a one line message to every client with a US flight in the next six weeks proportionate rather than excessive. Transits are the trap: 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 confirming before check in, since the consequence at the gate is a lost flight, and a false attestation carries criminal exposure rather than a simple refusal.
Status: In force; runs through 18 December 2026 unless extended
Online appointments now required for three categories of filing
Since 30 October, Mexico's National Immigration Institute requires online appointments for three categories of in country immigration filings. Walk in submissions for these categories are no longer accepted, and filing dates now depend on the slots the INM makes available in its electronic calendar.
Categories that now need an appointment
New or updated Employer Registration Certificates. Regularisation procedures. Visa authorisations based on a job offer or family unity.
Key Point for Consultants
The filing date is no longer something a consultant controls, it is whatever the calendar offers, and slots in the early weeks of a new system usually go fast. That makes the booking the first step of the case rather than an administrative detail at the end. Whether the online route changes processing times after filing is still unknown, so quoted timelines need a buffer until the pattern becomes clear.
Border controls between Italy and Spain are formally lifted
Italy's interior ministry confirmed on 22 October that Italy and Spain have agreed to end the reciprocal Schengen border controls in place since early August. The controls were triggered when tens of thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain's Ceuta territory, prompting Italy to screen travellers arriving from Spain, with Spain responding in kind. Both countries have confirmed the suspensions will not be extended further, and the lifting comes with a commitment to stronger intelligence sharing.
Key Point for Consultants
Travel between these two countries returns to normal Schengen conditions, with the extra passport and identity checks that had added delays since August now gone. One detail stops this being a general Schengen story: Germany's internal border controls remain in place separately, so an itinerary that touches Germany is unaffected by this agreement. Documents still travel with the client in every case, because carriers verify identity at boarding regardless of any border order.
Status: Controls lifted; no further extension
New Zealand
UPCOMING | GRADUATE WORK VISA | 16 NOVEMBER
Short Term Graduate Work Visa launches on 16 November
Immigration New Zealand will introduce a new six month Short Term Graduate Work Visa from 16 November. It is built for international graduates who hold an eligible Level 5 to 7 qualification completed in New Zealand, studied full time for at least 24 weeks, and who do not qualify for the longer Post Study Work Visa.
6 months
Visa duration, available once per person
NZD 5,000
Minimum available funds applicants must show
3 months
Window to apply after the student visa expires
Holders cannot sponsor dependants or run a business, and each person can receive only one of these visas.
Key Point for Consultants
This fills a gap that previously ended in departure. Graduates who assumed they had no post study option now have six months to find work and move onto an Accredited Employer Work Visa. Every Level 5 to 7 student approaching graduation is in scope, and the three month application window after the student visa expires is the detail that decides whether the option is still available when they come asking. Because it is granted once only, there is no second attempt if the six months pass without an offer.
Last full week to comment on two rules that reshape extensions
Deadline
Proposed Rule
10 November 2026
Eliminating the 60 day grace period that H-1B, L-1, O-1, E and TN workers receive after losing their job
13 November 2026
Ending USCIS deference to prior approvals when adjudicating extension petitions
Both proposals remain open for input and neither has taken effect.
Key Point for Consultants
If both are finalised the effects stack. A laid off worker loses the 60 day buffer to find a new sponsor, and every extension petition gets built from scratch no matter how many times the same role was approved before. Comments go through regulations.gov and this is the final full week to file them, which matters because a submission becomes part of the administrative record that courts later review.
Status: Reminder; comment periods close 10 and 13 November 2026
Comments close on removing the 60 day grace period
Affects H-1B, L-1, O-1, E and TN workers who lose their job.
13 NOVEMBER 2026
Comments close on ending USCIS deference to prior approvals
Applies to extension petitions across all affected categories.
16 NOVEMBER 2026
New Zealand Short Term Graduate Work Visa opens
Six months, granted once, for Level 5 to 7 graduates.
MID NOVEMBER 2026
Canadian Express Entry draws expected to resume
The recalculation pause runs for up to two weeks from today.
DECEMBER 2026
UK Statement of Changes expected for earned settlement
Rules then take effect through 2027.
18 DECEMBER 2026
US Ebola attestation order expires unless extended
Airlines must retain signed attestations for at least 42 days.
1 FEBRUARY 2027
UK care worker settlement provisions begin
A hard edge for anyone relying on transitional treatment.
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
1
Asia
0
Middle East
0
Africa
0
South America
0
The Italy and Spain item is counted once under Europe.
Global Coverage Check
No further major announcements found today
Sources were also monitored across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania beyond New Zealand. No major new policy change or announcement carrying today's date was identified in those regions.
This reflects the sources identified for this edition and is not a statement that nothing was published anywhere.
Practice Note for Immigration Consultants
Send the bracket table the same day it is announced
When a government sets qualifying periods by income bracket, as the UK just did, a single page showing each bracket with its years and conditions does more for a client than any amount of explanation afterwards. Most people only need to find their own row.
The client who sees that summary from you first trusts you more than the one who reads a version of it on social media three days later and wonders why nobody told them. Speed here is not marketing, it is the difference between a client who feels informed and one who feels blindsided.
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