Clear, sourced guides to immigration paperwork, taxes, and your consulate

October 16, 2026

H.R. 1 fiscal year 2027 fee amounts now in effect: Annual Asylum Fee $105, initial work permit $570, TPS registration $520, parole $1,050, in-absentia fee $5,300

October 14, 2026

Refugee-status termination: 10 days to answer a Notice of Intent to Terminate (interim final rule)

October 14, 2026

Government appeals the Diversity Visa orders in Medani v. Trump; status conference moved to October 22

Birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court

The remaining agencies, and the fight over the injunction. State published its implementation plan on September 4, 2026 and DHS published its interim final rule on September 9; as of September 10, 2026 the Social Security Administration and the Justice Department have published nothing. Watch three things: whether the District of Maryland grants the government's September 8 motion to dissolve or stay the September 2 preliminary injunction in Casa Inc. v. Trump (DHS's carve-out for the certified class lasts exactly as long as that injunction does); what DHS does after the October 5, 2026 comment deadline on Docket USCIS-2026-0496; and whether the foreign-government-employee category, which both State and DHS read to include locally hired consular staff who are nationals of the sending country, survives review. Also open: the attestation State says each parent must submit with a child's DS-11 when neither is a citizen, and any modification of State's plan, which calls itself proposed and subject to change.

Last checked: 2026-10-23

TPS termination litigation

There is no dated Form I-9 milestone left — every court-stayed TPS termination has taken effect. The live dates are litigation dates. In Ethiopia's case (No. 1:26-cv-10278, D. Mass.) the Aug. 25, 2026 deadline for a joint discovery and briefing schedule on the surviving Count V passed with no schedule filed: the government moved that same day, with the plaintiffs' assent (ECF 105), to push the deadline to Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, stating that the parties had conferred several times without reaching agreement and that the Assistant U.S. Attorney assigned to the case left the U.S. Attorney's Office on Aug. 21, 2026, leaving some 146 cases from two departing AUSAs to be managed. The court entered an order on that motion on Aug. 26, 2026, but the ruling text is not yet public on the docket — and this judge denied a different extension motion in this same case on Aug. 5, 2026 — so Aug. 31 is the date the parties asked for, not a confirmed one. The plaintiffs' appeal of the Aug. 14 Somalia order is also pending, and as of Oct. 7, 2026 the USCIS Somalia page carries an "Archived Content" banner but still sits at its /humanitarian/ address. Burma (Myanmar) and South Sudan were terminated Aug. 7, 2026, Somalia Aug. 14 and Ethiopia Aug. 18 — three of them earlier than their own guidance had promised. These dates are ceilings, not schedules.

Last checked: 2026-10-23

DACA work permits (Texas case)

Judge Hanen to issue an implementing order (supplemental briefing finished November 2025); no date set — it could issue at any time.

Last checked: 2026-10-07

In-state tuition for undocumented students

Virginia order awaited after the July 7, 2026 hearing; California order awaited; Massachusetts response was due September 8, 2026; Tenth Circuit appeal of the Kansas intervention denial; Eighth Circuit (Minnesota, Nebraska) and Sixth Circuit (Kentucky) appeals pending; the Fifth Circuit denied rehearing en banc in the Texas intervention case on September 8, 2026 and MALDEF has said it will seek further review.

Last checked: 2026-09-24