The Department of Homeland Security has proposed an Optional Practical Training fee of 70,000 dollars per F-1 student for an initial OPT recommendation, with 30,000 dollars for later requests. Universities would be responsible for payment. The fee would apply only to recommendations made after the rule takes effect, comments close on 9 November, and legal challenges are expected the moment it is finalised.

Separately, the Secretary of Labour has suspended Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from the PERM labour certification program, halting all new and pending applications from these eight employers for an unspecified period.

The administration also opened investigations into alleged J-1 visa fraud at nine universities, Harvard, Yale, Stanford and MIT among them, with subpoenas served and a dedicated visa fraud strike team being formed.

A USCIS interim final rule, scheduled for Federal Register publication on 14 October, cuts the response period for Notices of Intent to Terminate refugee status from 30 days to 10. It applies to people admitted as refugees whom DHS later concludes did not meet the refugee definition at the time of admission.

Missing the deadline can lead to automatic termination without rebuttal, loss of refugee based employment authorisation and removal consequences.

The administration has again proposed eliminating the longstanding USCIS policy of deferring to prior approvals when adjudicating H-1B, L-1 and other nonimmigrant worker extension petitions. Officers would reassess eligibility from scratch on every renewal.

That automatic extension had served as the main safety net for workers waiting on an EAD renewal.

IRCC's October release moves in both directions. Work permits from the United States tripled from two weeks to six. Citizenship certificates rose another month to 34. Against that, PR card new issuance improved four days to 33 days, and the CEC queue fell by roughly 5,000 to 53,900 while holding at six months.

Non Express Entry PNP sits at 13 months and the Federal Skilled Worker Program climbed to seven. Super Visa times for Pakistan fell 31 days to 101, while the Philippines rose 26 days to 90.

The second EU GCC Summit takes place on 24 October in Riyadh, and the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretariat has signalled that a major announcement is expected on starting the process to waive Schengen visa requirements for citizens of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. The UAE already holds visa free Schengen travel for short stays.

A waiver process would still take time once formally initiated, but a confirmed start alone would be the biggest shift in Gulf European mobility in years.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed that temporary internal Schengen border controls, in place since September 2025 and extended through late 2026, will remain in force indefinitely. Fresh data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees shows asylum applications have fallen to a decade low in 2026 while deportations have risen sharply.

The main tranche of UK Immigration Rules changes under HC 584 took effect at 15:00 UK time on 8 October and is now in its second week. It covers introductory definitions, Part 1, Suitability, Appendix A points scoring, Administrative Review, and revised visitor and student provisions. Transition provisions preserve the prior rules only for applications validly lodged before that moment.

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