Home > Magazine > Immigration > Immigration News Briefs

Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Sadia Subhani

August 2025

Given the staff reductions, and the pressure to focus on finding fraud rather than expeditiously process applications, USCIS is dealing with a backlog of more than 11 million pending applications. For the first time, it is giving numbers on its “frontlog” —applications received and still unopened, which currently stands at 34,000 filings.

USCIS is entirely funded by fees paid on its applications, unlike other government agencies. The “Big Beautiful Bill” Act which recently passed substantially increases fees for asylum and humanitarian applications, some of which had no filing fees before, so it remains to be seen whether these increased fees will result in more staff/faster processing times. Another possibility is that as USCIS accelerates its acceptance of online petitions, and moves away from paper filings, processing times may improve.

Vetting of student visas

In June, the Department of State (“DOS”) announced in a press release that U.S. embassies can resume scheduling student visa interviews consistent with enhanced vetting, “including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications.”

The press release goes on to state: “To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public.’”

The release describes guidance issued to consular posts, including:

All F, M, or J visa applicants (new or renewal returning) who are “otherwise eligible,” will initially be refused under INA section 221(g) for further review.
Consular officers are instructed to review the entire online presence of applicants, not just social media.
In a section titled “What am I looking for,” the cable instructs officers to “simply [look] for any potentially derogatory information,” including “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States; of advocacy for, aid or of support for designated foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security; or of support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.”

The cable also notes that posts should prioritize J-1 physicians and F-1 students at U.S. universities where international students are less than 15% of the student population.

Focus on denaturalization

Stripping some naturalized Americans of citizenship is now a top priority of the U.S. Justice Department, according to a memorandum recently made public.

The June 11 directive instructs DOJ Attorneys to pursue civil actions to “denaturalize” those who “illegally procured” citizenship through fraudulent means and those engaged in criminal activity. The process would “remove naturalized criminals, gang members or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport.”

Critics say this directive opens the door to political targeting and racial profiling under the guise of immigration enforcement..

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR AUGUST 2025

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	15Jul16	15Jul16
2A	01Sep22	01Sep22
2B	15Oct16	15Oct16
3rd	01Aug11	**01Aug11**
4th	01Nov06	01Jan08

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	15Feb22	Current
2nd	01Jan13	15Sep23
3rd	22May13	**01Apr23**
Other	22May13	08Jul21
4th	U	U
5th	15 Nov19	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - AUGUST 2025

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Sep17	01Sep17
2A	01Apr25	01Apr25
2B	01Jan17	01Jan17
3rd	22Jul12	22Jul12
4th	01Dec06	01Jan09

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	15Apr22	Current
2nd	01Feb13	15Nov23
3rd	08Jun13	01May23
Other	08Jun13	22Jul21
4th	01Feb21	01Feb21
5th	01Apr22	Current1B