New Immigration Laws: H-1B, Asylum, Parole, and Detention

The new immigration laws taking effect in 2025 have reshaped nearly every pathway into the United States. A presidential proclamation now attaches a $100,000 payment to new H-1B petitions. Work permit validity for asylum seekers, refugees, and adjustment applicants has been cut from five years to 18 months. Major humanitarian parole programs have been terminated. A reconciliation bill signed as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has added unwaivable fees across the system and funded a large expansion of detention. Mandatory detention now reaches noncitizens who have merely been charged with certain offenses. DACA is closed to new applicants, and several TPS designations are winding down. Here is what each change does and who it affects.

The $100,000 H-1B Payment

On September 19, 2025, the proclamation “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” imposed a $100,000 payment on all new H-1B specialty occupation visa petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025.¹ It is not a regulatory fee increase. It was issued under the president’s authority to restrict entry of certain noncitizens under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it applies to lottery-selected petitions as well as other H-1B filings submitted after the effective date.² The proclamation expires 12 months after the effective date unless extended.

Existing Department of Labor rules already bar employers from requiring H-1B workers to pay the statutory training and processing fee, the fraud detection fee, or any business expense that would drop the worker’s pay below the required wage.³ How those rules interact with the new $100,000 charge is an open question that employers and workers should work through with counsel before filing.

Work Permit Validity Cut to 18 Months

Starting December 5, 2025, the maximum validity of Employment Authorization Documents dropped from five years to 18 months for several groups: refugees, asylees, recipients of withholding of removal, people with pending asylum applications, pending adjustment applicants, and those seeking cancellation of removal or NACARA relief.⁴

If your EAD was issued before December 5, 2025, with a five-year term, it remains valid through the printed expiration date. The 18-month cap applies to applications pending or filed on or after that date.⁴ The practical result is roughly three times as many renewals over the same period, more fees, and more exposure to work authorization gaps if USCIS processing lags.

Humanitarian Parole Programs Terminated

Three major parole programs have been ended or suspended.

Family Reunification Parole

DHS terminated the categorical Family Reunification Parole programs for nationals of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras, along with their immediate family members.⁵ The termination took effect December 15, 2025, and individuals already paroled in were given until January 14, 2026, before their parole periods would end.⁶

On January 24, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction staying the termination for people who had already been paroled into the country under the FRP programs. While the injunction is in effect, affected individuals may disregard the termination notices they received.⁵ The injunction could be modified or reversed on appeal.

CHNV and Uniting for Ukraine

The CHNV parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans were terminated effective March 25, 2025, and DHS later issued termination notices encouraging parolees to self-deport.⁷ Uniting for Ukraine was separately suspended in January 2025; USCIS stopped accepting new sponsor applications, and no new travel authorizations are being issued for Ukrainian beneficiaries.

Without an independent basis for staying (an approved adjustment application or other relief), people whose parole ends may become subject to removal proceedings.

Asylum: Harder to Reach, More Expensive to File

Expedited Removal Expanded to the Interior

On January 21, 2025, DHS expanded expedited removal to the statutory maximum. It previously reached mainly people encountered near the border within 14 days of entry. It now applies to noncitizens anywhere in the interior who cannot show they have been continuously present for at least two years.⁸⁹ Expedited removal lets immigration officers order deportation without a hearing before an immigration judge, which makes it faster and much harder to challenge than standard removal.

A Higher Bar for Credible Fear

The credible fear screening standard has been raised. Under prior rules, someone in expedited removal who expressed a fear of return needed to show a “significant possibility” of eligibility for asylum. Under current regulatory frameworks, certain people who entered during declared emergency border conditions are presumptively ineligible for asylum and must show a “reasonable probability” of persecution or torture to qualify for the narrower protections of withholding of removal or Convention Against Torture relief. That standard is substantially harder to meet.¹⁰

Border officers are also no longer required to affirmatively ask whether a person fears returning home. The individual must volunteer that fear for a credible fear interview to be initiated. For someone who is exhausted or unfamiliar with the U.S. legal system, that shift alone can decide whether a claim is ever heard.

New Unwaivable Asylum Fees

Asylum applications now carry a $100 filing fee on Form I-589, imposed by H.R. 1.¹¹ An additional annual fee applies to asylum applications pending for more than one year. USCIS initially paused that annual fee after a federal court in Maryland issued a temporary stay in October 2025.¹² The stay has since been lifted and the fee is in effect. Fee waivers cannot be granted for any fee imposed by the reconciliation bill.¹³

CBP One Retired; CBP Home and CBP Link

The CBP One app used to schedule appointments for asylum processing at ports of entry has been retired. DHS relaunched it as “CBP Home,” now a tool for voluntary self-deportation: noncitizens unlawfully present can submit their intent to depart and receive cost-free travel, forgiveness of civil fines, and a $1,000 exit bonus paid after the return is confirmed through the app. A separate app, CBP Link, handles the traveler functions CBP One once covered, including Visa Waiver Program I-94 applications, cargo inspections, and border wait time checks.¹⁴

Interior Enforcement and Mandatory Detention

The Laken Riley Act

Signed into law on January 29, 2025, the Laken Riley Act amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require detention of any noncitizen who is inadmissible and has been charged with, arrested for, or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury.¹⁵ The definitions of these offenses follow the laws of the jurisdiction where the acts occurred, so a shoplifting charge in any state can trigger mandatory federal immigration detention.

Under prior law, mandatory detention generally required a conviction. The Laken Riley Act moves that trigger forward to arrest or charge, before any finding of guilt, and removes the discretion officers previously had to release accused individuals on bond or into alternatives to detention while their case proceeds.

Detention Buildup

The reconciliation bill allocated $45 billion for building new immigration detention centers, including family facilities, and an additional $29.9 billion for enforcement and removal operations. Related provisions require that all available detention beds be filled before anyone can be released into an Alternatives to Detention program, and ATD participants must submit biometric information to DHS for tracking.

DACA and TPS

DACA

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is closed to new applicants. USCIS continues to accept and process renewals for people who already hold DACA, but no initial applications are being processed. A federal district court in Texas found the DACA regulations unlawful in 2023, and the Fifth Circuit upheld that finding in January 2025. Existing DACA grants and associated work permits remain valid until they expire, unless individually terminated.¹⁶

Temporary Protected Status

Several TPS designations have been terminated. Haiti’s designation, one of the largest, was determined to no longer meet the conditions for TPS, with benefits originally set to end on February 3, 2026.¹⁷ Like the parole terminations, TPS wind-downs are subject to ongoing litigation, and court orders may extend protections for some beneficiaries past the published end dates. If your TPS designation is ending, ask an immigration attorney whether you have any independent basis to remain.

New and Higher USCIS Fees

A comprehensive USCIS fee schedule took effect on April 1, 2024, the first major adjustment since 2016. Form I-485 (adjustment of status) is $1,440. Form I-130 (petition for alien relative) is $675 for paper filing, with a $50 discount for online submission.¹⁸ Filing I-765 (work permit) and I-131 (advance parole) alongside I-485 used to be free; those fees are now unbundled and paid separately. Employers filing I-129 or I-140 pay a new $600 Asylum Program Fee.¹⁹ Premium processing time is now counted in business days rather than calendar days.²⁰

H.R. 1 layered new fees on top of that schedule: a $100 asylum application fee, a $550 initial work permit fee for asylum applicants, a $500 TPS registration fee, a $250 nonimmigrant visa “integrity” fee, and a $5,000 fee for noncitizens apprehended while inadmissible.¹¹ None of these can be waived.¹³

Fee waivers on Form I-912 still exist for a narrower set of applications, including I-485 filings based on categories exempt from the public charge ground (such as asylees and Cuban Adjustment Act cases), Form I-90 (green card replacement), and Form I-131 filed for humanitarian parole.¹³ Because reconciliation bill fees are unwaivable, asylum seekers and TPS applicants pay the full amount regardless of financial hardship.

The Gold Card Program

A separate executive order created the “Gold Card,” a pathway to permanent residency for individuals who contribute $1 million to the U.S. government, or $2 million if a corporation sponsors the applicant.²¹ Applicants file Form I-140G and pay a $15,000 DHS processing fee per person for the principal applicant, spouse, and each child.²² It is not a variant of EB-5. The executive order directs agencies to treat the contribution as evidence of eligibility under the EB-1 (extraordinary ability) and EB-2 (exceptional ability and national interest waiver) categories, with contributions going into a separate Treasury fund. Because the program uses already-backlogged EB-1 and EB-2 categories, applicants from high-demand countries may still face long waits.

1
The White House. Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B FAQ
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 62H – What Are the Rules Concerning Deductions From an H-1B Workers Pay
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Reduced Validity Periods for Newly Issued Employment Authorization Documents
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. DHS Ends the Abuse of the Humanitarian Parole Process and Terminates Family Reunification Parole Programs
6
Federal Register. Termination of Family Reunification Parole Processes for Colombians, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, Hondurans, and Salvadorans
7
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS Issues Notices of Termination for the CHNV Parole Program, Encourages Parolees to Self-Deport Immediately
8
Department of Homeland Security. Guidance Regarding How to Exercise Enforcement Discretion
9
Federal Register. Designating Aliens for Expedited Removal
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Questions and Answers – Credible Fear Screening
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Updates Fees Based on H.R. 1
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Court Order on Annual Asylum Fee Notices
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Request for Fee Waiver
14
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Announces New CBP Link Mobile App
15
Congress.gov. S.5 – 119th Congress (2025-2026) – Laken Riley Act
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Update on Termination of TPS for Haiti
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2024 Final Fee Rule
19
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service
21
The White House. The Gold Card
22
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-140G, Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program