## New student admissions get end dates Tuesday

**Starting Tuesday, students, exchange visitors, scholars and foreign journalists entering the United States will get a date by which they must leave or seek more time.** Until now, people in the F, J and I classifications were generally admitted for “duration of status,” meaning that their I-94s did not carry an end date. For students, that usually lasted as long as they remained enrolled and followed the rules. Under the new rule, admission will typically last for the program period shown on the I-20 or DS-2019, up to four years. People already here with duration of status do not automatically receive a new end date, but a trip abroad or an extension application can put them into the new system. [Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/17/2026-14439/establishing-a-fixed-time-period-of-admission-and-an-extension-of-stay-procedure-for-nonimmigrant), [MIT](https://iso.mit.edu/mit-summary-of-usdhs-final-rule-eliminating-d-s-for-f-and-j-statuses), [University of Colorado Boulder](https://www.colorado.edu/isss/2026/08/31/new-rule-effective-sept-15-2026-fixed-period-admission-extension-stay-faqs-students-f-1)

**For students in long programs, the four-year limit will mean another application and another decision.** A student who needs more time to finish a program, start a new one or complete practical training will have to ask USCIS for an extension or leave and seek a new admission on return. New F students will also have 30 days, not 60, to leave after finishing. The [American Physical Society](https://aps.org/apsnews/2026/09/toolkit-offers-guidance) notes that a physics Ph.D. takes 6.2 years on average. [GBH News](https://www.wgbh.org/news/education-news/2026-09-10/mass-colleges-fear-new-4-year-visa-cap-could-drive-away-international-students) reports that colleges fear the new clock will make it harder to finish research or change programs. At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, [KRGV](https://www.krgv.com/news/utrgv-international-students-among-those-affected-as-new-federal-rule-sets-4-year-cap-on-f-1-student-visas) found students already weighing what the limit could mean for medical school and other long plans.

**Tuesday also brings a hard form swap.** USCIS will reject an old I-539, used to extend or change temporary status, or an old I-765, used to apply for a work permit, if it is filed online or postmarked on or after Sept. 15. The new 09/15/26 editions are mandatory. There is no grace period. [USCIS I-539](https://www.uscis.gov/i-539), [USCIS I-765](https://www.uscis.gov/i-765)

## A broader public-charge test starts Thursday

**Public charge is one part of deciding whether a covered applicant can get an immigrant visa or a green card.** The question is forward-looking: Is this person likely to depend mainly on public help in the future? Until now, officers generally did not use non-cash benefits to answer that question. Starting Thursday, they can. Medicaid, food assistance and housing aid can become part of the balancing act, along with the applicant’s age, health, family situation, money, education and job skills. Refugees, asylees, TPS applicants and several other groups remain exempt. [Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/20/2026-14539/public-charge-ground-of-inadmissibility), [USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-issues-guidance-on-making-public-charge-inadmissibility-determination)

**The State Department has resumed immigrant-visa processing in Hungary and Poland, but a wider pause on immigrant-visa appointments remains in place elsewhere while consular officers train on the new public-charge standard.** The disruption affects people applying abroad for permanent residence. It does not cover nonimmigrant-visa appointments for visitors, students or temporary workers. [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-resumes-immigrant-visa-processing-hungary-poland-pause-remains-elsewhere-2026-09-08)

**USCIS changes its green-card form Thursday, too.** Anyone applying from inside the United States must use the new 09/18/26 Form I-485. USCIS will reject an older version filed online or postmarked on or after Sept. 18. [USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-to-publish-new-edition-of-form-i-485-older-editions-will-be-rejected-starting-sept-18)

## Salvadoran TPS did not end. The uncertainty did not end either.

**An estimated 170,000 Salvadorans with TPS can still live and work in the United States, for now.** When the Sept. 9 decision deadline passed, DHS said people already covered would keep their protection and work authorization until it makes another announcement. That is not a settled extension or a final decision about the designation’s future; the agency still has not said whether it will terminate, extend or otherwise reshape the program. NPR’s reporting puts the uncertainty in human terms: many of these families have built homes, jobs and children’s lives in the United States over 25 years of TPS. [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2026/09/11/nx-s1-5963930/tps-salvadorans-immgiration), [The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/09/11/with-tps-doubt-salvadorans-businesses-brace-turmoil)

**The paperwork is part of the limbo.** USCIS’s Sept. 3 materials still told affected workers that an older A12 or C19 work permit, together with the agency’s extension notice, could prove continued work authorization only through Sept. 9. After that date passed, USCIS said beneficiaries still retain protection and work authorization, but it has not yet published a new EAD end date, a Federal Register notice, or specific I-9 and E-Verify instructions for employers. That left workers and payroll offices trying to reconcile an expired-looking document with the agency’s later assurance. [USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-el-salvador), [WR Immigration](https://wolfsdorf.com/el-salvador-tps-remains-in-effect-while-employers-await-formal-dhs-guidance), [La Nación](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/estados-unidos/migraciones/confirmado-por-el-uscis-que-pasara-con-el-permiso-de-trabajo-ead-para-los-salvadorenos-que-quedan-en-nid12092026)

## ICE arrests rise sharply in El Paso, Texas

**ICE apprehended nearly 3,500 people in the El Paso region through August 5, nearly matching the total for all of 2025.** More than half came in June and July, El Paso Matters reported from ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. The measure is arrests, not removals or a count of people currently held in custody, but it captures how quickly enforcement has intensified locally. [El Paso Matters](https://elpasomatters.org/2026/09/13/how-many-people-arrested-by-ice-in-el-paso-immigration-detention-data/)

## Around the system


**The H-2B cap filled up for the first half of the next fiscal year.** USCIS said September 4 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject petitions seeking start dates before April 1, 2027; later petitions will be rejected. The regular H-2B program has 33,000 slots for each half of the fiscal year. [USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-reaches-h-2b-cap-for-first-half-of-fy-2027)


**Massachusetts has put its new workplace-notice rule into practice.** Employers who receive an ICE request to inspect I-9 records must give affected workers written notice within 48 hours, in their primary language. State guidance also covers schools, health-care sites, police departments and state agencies under the new PROTECT Act. [Massachusetts Municipal Association](https://www.mma.org/guidance-issued-for-implementing-protect-act/)


**The Justice Department used its Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the first time.** Congress created the five-judge court in 1996 for removal cases involving classified evidence, but no administration had brought it a case. Nazira Haji Zada, a lawful permanent resident in Fort Worth, Texas, agreed to removal to Afghanistan after the government invoked the court; because the case ended by agreement, it did not resolve her lawyers’ challenge to a process in which they could not see the classified evidence. [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2026/09/12/nx-s1-5967476/alien-removal-court-deportation-afganistan), [PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/afghan-woman-whose-case-was-the-first-for-a-long-dormant-court-has-been-deported-officials-say), [Justice Department](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-removes-alien-terrorist-first-use-united-states-alien-terrorist-removal)


**A federal judge halted construction of a planned ICE facility near Gilroy, California.** California and Santa Clara County had challenged the project over environmental review and consultation. The preliminary injunction keeps construction paused while the parties work out the scope of the order. [California Attorney General](https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-county-santa-clara-secure-early-win-lawsuit-block-illegal), [Mercury News](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/12/ice-must-pause-construction-of-gilroy-detention-center-judge-rules/)


**A lawsuit over Cuban I-220A paperwork cleared an early hurdle in Miami.** ICE gives an I-220A to someone it releases from custody under supervision. It can require check-ins, but it is not a visa, legal status or grant of parole. The plaintiffs in *Bello-Rubio v. Noem* want courts to treat that release paper as parole for the Cuban Adjustment Act, which could open a green-card route for eligible people. The judge only allowed the case to continue; she did not decide that an I-220A is parole or award anyone a green card. [Telemundo Atlanta](https://www.telemundoatlanta.com/2026/09/12/jueza-permite-avanzar-demanda-que-podra-cambiar-el-estatus-migratorio-de-500000-cubanos/)


**A separate detention case in Texas raises a hard question about medical force.** Univision, citing court documents reported by The Guardian, said a judge extended authorization for ICE to force-feed a Cuban man on hunger strike at the Montgomery Processing Center near Houston, Texas, including possible surgical feeding-tube placement. His identity and much of the case remain sealed. [Univision](https://www.univision.com/noticias/inmigracion/ice-podra-alimentar-con-una-sonda-a-un-cubano-en-huelga-de-hambre-sin-su-consentimiento)