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On Oct. 4, President Donald Trump signed a new “Presidential Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry of Immigrants Who Will Financially Burden the United States Healthcare System,” which goes into effect Nov. 3 and affects most immigrant visa applicants. This Presidential Proclamation is separate from the Public Charge Rule, which is on hold in the U.S. due to a court injunction, and its implementation at U.S. Consulates has been delayed by the Department of State.

According to the new Presidential Proclamation, with very small exceptions including refugees and asylees, applicants for immigrant visas will need to present evidence to the consular office “to the consular officer’s satisfaction” at the time of their immigrant visa interview that they will be covered by approved health insurance within 30 days of entering the U.S. or that they have enough financial means to pay for “reasonably foreseeable medical costs.” The Presidential Proclamation asserts that “lawful immigrants are about three times more likely than United States citizens to lack health insurance.” Continue Reading New Presidential Proclamation Requiring Health Care for Immigrant Visa Applicants Effective November 3, 2019

While the ballots cast in the 2022 Midterm Election are still being counted, it appears that Republicans will assume a slim majority in the House and there will be a similarly narrow split in Senate, well short of the 60-vote threshold required to pass most legislation.

It may be weeks until the final results are determined, but the narrow margins in both chambers will require developing bipartisan consensus to pass legislation, including funding the government and authorizing defense programs. While we should still expect to see a partisan divide, over the past two years we have seen Congress work together to pass a number of significant bipartisan bills, and legislators will need to continue to find ways to collaborate with each other in order to govern.

Our report below provides an outline of the many issues that will be debated after the 118th Congress is sworn in next year.

2022 Midterm Election Policy PaperBudget & AppropriationsEnvironmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)Immigration
Lame Duck PrioritiesCryptocurrencyFARA ReformTax
Agriculture and Food PolicyDefense & Foreign PolicyGovernment InvestigationsTrade
Antitrust, Privacy and TechnologyEnergy and EnvironmentHealth CareTransportation and Infrastructure

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has been appointed acting director of USCIS, replacing Acting Director Koumans. Director Koumans replaced Director Cissna on June 3 as acting director.

Below is the USCIS release:

WASHINGTON— Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan today announced that Kenneth T. (Ken) Cuccinelli will serve as the new acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), effective June 10, 2019.

Cuccinelli will lead an agency of 19,000 employees and contractors who are responsible for administering our nation’s lawful immigration system while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values. In fiscal year 2018 alone, USCIS adjudicated more than 8.7 million requests for immigration benefits.

“I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at this critical time and serve alongside this agency’s dedicated workforce,” said Acting Director Cuccinelli. “USCIS has the extraordinary responsibility to administer and protect the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system. Our nation has the most generous legal immigration system in the world and we must zealously safeguard its promise for those who lawfully come here. I look forward to working with the men and women of USCIS to ensure our legal immigration system operates effectively and efficiently while deterring fraud and protecting the American people.”

Cuccinelli previously served as Virginia’s attorney general from 2010 to 2014. During his time as attorney general, he led the Commonwealth in fighting human trafficking. Additionally, he led efforts resulting in record enforcement against gangs, health care fraud, and child predators. Cuccinelli also served in the Senate of Virginia from 2002 to 2010 and has practiced law for nearly 25 years.

Cuccinelli earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Virginia, a law degree from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, and a Masters in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.

Cuccinelli and his wife, Teiro, grew up and live in Virginia and have seven children.

For more on USCIS, click here.

A June U.S. Policy Metrics/Hamilton Place Strategies report Harnessing Private Capital For Job Creation: An Analysis Of The EB-5 Visa Program demonstrates the impact of the EB-5 visa program as a net job creator and budget-neutral catalyst for bringing private investment into the U.S. The report was commissioned by the EB-5 Investment Coalition (EB-5IC), a broad-based, bipartisan organization focused on reauthorizing and strengthening the EB-5 Regional Center Program. This report is authored by Steve McMillin, a partner at U.S. Policy Metrics and former deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush; Michael Solon, also a partner at U.S. Policy Metrics and former budget advisor to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); and Matt McDonald, a partner at Hamilton Place Strategies and a former advisor to President George W. Bush.

Continue Reading New Report Validates the EB-5 Program as a Most Efficient Job Creation Program

Weeks of ups and downs and high points and low points in the Immigration Reform debate have left the stakeholder community wondering how next to proceed. Last week, Washington Post opinion writer George Will crystalized the issues raised by House Republicans, and addressed the reasons not to move forward. See article here and key items from the article included below in italics.

Political Excuses

  • Republicans should focus on the problems of the Obama Health Care Reform Bill. This has already been done very effectively.
  • This is a divisive issue for the Republicans and should be avoided. Republicans say the Immigration System is broken and it is a matter of how to fix it, not when to fix it.
  • Immigration Reform will create Democratic voters. Voters gravitate to candidates with similar values and offer opportunity.
  • President Obama cannot be trusted to enforce immigration reforms. This distrust may be addressed by crafting legislation to ensure enforcement with checks and balances.

Substantive Excuses

  • Immigrants could negatively impact American culture and not assimilate. Assimilation will be an important part of any immigration reform proposal and nearly 60 percent of the illegal population has already been in the U.S. more than 10 years and have been assimilating.
  • Enforcement is a key component of Immigration Reform. I am in agreement that enforcement is a key component of sensible Immigration Reform.
  • Immigration Reform will encourage low skilled and less educated workers that will depress wages of Americans. Lesser-skilled and lower skilled jobs must be done and U.S. workers are not taking them. The Congressional Budget Office says that immigration may causes a slight reduction is wages, but there will be an increase in economic growth overall attributable to immigrants. The economy needs workers at all levels to grow. When there is a need, there should be a mechanism to allow immigrant workers to fill that need.

Let’s move forward and do what everyone thinks should be done – sensible Immigration Reform in 2014.

The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (“EWIC”), co-chaired by Greenberg Traurig Business Immigration & Compliance Practice Co-Chair Laura Reiff, issued the below reaction to the release of Republican standards for immigration reform following the annual House Republican retreat held this week.

Reaction to the Release of the Republican Standards:

IMMIGRATION REFORM IS KEY PRIORITY FOR THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS 

2014 IS THE YEAR FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

The business community expressed its strong support for the principles laid out by the House Republican leadership this week.  House Republicans have identified key principles that line up with tenets long endorsed by the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition.  These principles include among other things:  (i) security at our borders; (ii) a workable worksite enforcement system; (iii) a temporary worker program that will respond to the needs of our economy; and (iv) a program that will bring hardworking unauthorized immigrants out of the shadows to be considered for legal status.

We are encouraged by the importance House leadership has assigned to this issue, and we look forward to enactment of sound immigration reform legislation.  This sets the stage for the House to move ahead with the immigration bills that have already passed out of committee and introduce other bills that comport with the principles.  EWIC looks forward to continuing to work with the House to find a solution to the nation’s immigration policy problems.

The Essential Worker Immigrant Coalition (EWIC) is a broad-based coalition of national businesses and trade associations from across the industry spectrum concerned with the shortage of both semi-skilled and unskilled (“essential worker”) labor.  EWIC supports policies that facilitate the employment of essential workers by U.S. companies that are unable to find American workers (www.ewic.org). 

Additional press releases from EWIC members are included below:

Associated Builders and Contractors

Associated General Contractors of America

American Health Care Association

American Hotel and Lodging Association

International Franchise Association

Immigration Works USA

National Association of Home Builders

National Association of Manufacturers

National Roofing Contractors Association

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

We are excited to continue to grow our Business Immigration and Compliance Practice in the firm’s Philadelphia office. Attorneys Jennifer Hermansky and Nataliya Rymer joined the firm earlier this year, and we have now added senior paralegal Casey O’Brien to the team.

Hermansky focuses her practice on both employment-based and EB-5 immigration. She has dedicated the majority of her immigration practice to EB-5, including the counseling of regional centers, projects and investors. Hermansky regularly works with developers across a variety of industries seeking capital for new projects that qualify for EB-5 investments. She counsels clients on the creation of new Regional Centers, amendments of a Regional Center designations, and adoptions of developer projects by existing Regional Centers.

Rymer represents clients in a wide range of employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant matters, including professionals, managers and executives, artists and entertainers, treaty traders and investors, immigrant investors, and persons of extraordinary ability. Her diverse client base spans a multitude of industries, including health care, pharmaceutical and real estate, as well as entrepreneurs, scientists, and researchers in scientific communities. Rymer focuses her practice on employment eligibility compliance and complex business immigration law, and case management issues for multinational companies.

“We are pleased to welcome Casey to our Philadelphia office,” said Michael L. Lehr, Regional Operating Shareholder. “Her wide-ranging experience in business immigration will be a strong asset for the firm’s global clientele.”

O’Brien has nearly seven years of employment-related immigration experience and works closely with attorneys on immigration matters for universities, including faculty, physicians and staff. She has particular experience on H-1B cases, as well as L-1A/L-1B, E-2, PERM, employment and family-based immigrant visa petitions, Adjustment of Status, and Naturalization matters. Additionally, she has extensive experience handling the preparation of start-up H-1B’ petitions involving right to control and specialty occupation issues for graduates of Ivy League MBA programs.

“Casey is a strong addition to the Business Immigration and Compliance team,” said Laura F. Reiff, Co-Chair of the firm’s Business Immigration and Compliance group. “Her expertise in employment-based immigration, specifically with local and national colleges and universities, enhances the firm’s ability to provide our clients with a wide-range of business immigration and compliance services in an ever-changing market.”

Greenberg Traurig’s Business Immigration and Compliance group represents businesses, organizations, and individuals from around the world on a wide range of immigration matters and visa needs, including colleges and universities, corporate, allied health, IT and electronics, architecture, real estate, large retail chains and hospitality companies. The team advises multinational corporations on a variety of employment-related immigration issues, focusing on strategic immigration planning for U.S. and international companies for the international relocation of personnel both from and into the United States.

In November 2025, both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (DOS) signaled changes to how the U.S. government will determine whether visa applicants or those seeking permanent residence are “likely to become a public charge.” While both agencies are moving toward a broader, more discretionary approach, their guidance reveals important similarities and differences that may affect immigrants, nonimmigrants, and their advocates.

DHS Proposed Rule: Rescinding the 2022 Regulations

On Nov. 19, 2025, DHS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) indicating its intent to rescind the 2022 public charge regulations. DHS plans to withdraw the 2022 rule, which narrowly defined public charge and limited the types of public benefits considered (mainly cash assistance and long-term institutionalization) because the agency believes it is inconsistent with congressional intent and too restrictive. Officers would be guided by both statutory “minimum factors” (age, health, family status, assets/resources, and education/skills) and any additional evidence relevant to an individual’s case showing self-sufficiency. The rule would apply to applicants for admission or adjustment of status within the United States (e.g., those filing Form I-485 with USCIS).

Key Points:

  • Restores Officer Discretion: DHS officers would once again consider the “totality of the circumstances,” not just a narrow set of benefits or factors.
  • Any Means-Tested Benefits: Officers may take into account any means-tested public benefit—not just cash assistance and long-term care—when assessing self-sufficiency.
  • No Bright-Line Rule: There are no fixed criteria; instead, each case is judged on its unique facts.
  • Statutory Minimum Factors: Age, health, family status, assets/resources, education/skills, and (when required) the Affidavit of Support.
  • Forward-Looking: The determination is prospective—whether the individual is likely to become a public charge at any time.

DOS Consular Guidance: Implementing Public Charge for Visa Applicants

It appears that DOS issued new guidance to consular officers around the world, updating the way they assess whether visa applicants –both immigrant and most nonimmigrant (temporary)– are “likely to become a public charge” under Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 212(a)(4). An unofficial copy of the cable dated Nov. 6, 2025, offers insight into how U.S. consular officers are being instructed to implement public charge policy. This guidance marks a renewed focus on self-sufficiency for both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants and clarifies what evidence officers should evaluate during visa interviews.

Key Points:

  • Broad Applicability: Most visa categories are subject to public charge review unless they fall into specific exempt categories (as listed in 9 FAM 302.8-2(B)(6)).
  • Comprehensive Review: Consular officers must review all available evidence—petitions, interviews, medical reports, affidavits, financial and employment documents, and any record of public benefits use (domestic or abroad).
  • No Bright-Line Test: No single factor (except lacking a required Affidavit of Support) is dispositive; decisions must be based on the “totality of the circumstances.”
  • Statutory Minimum Factors: Same as DHS—age, health, family status, assets/resources, education/skills, and (when required) Affidavit of Support.
  • Benefit Use—Past and Present: Both cash benefits and long-term institutionalization in the U.S., as well as similar assistance received abroad, are relevant. Officers are also told to consider use of non-cash assistance (like food, housing, or private charity) as a possible indicator of future need, even if not strictly covered by regulation.
  • Burden of Proof: Rests entirely on the applicant to prove they are not likely to become a public charge.
  • Special Guidance for Affidavit of Support: While necessary for many family-based (and some employment-based) cases, a sufficient affidavit does not guarantee approval; the credibility and ability of the sponsor is also scrutinized.

Key Contrasts of Potential DHS Guidance and Recent DOS Guidance

  • Breadth of Evidence: DOS explicitly encourages officers to consider any evidence of need—public or private, U.S. or foreign. DHS’s proposal is less explicit about foreign aid but restores broad discretion, which might include such evidence.
  • Application Frequency: At consulates, even repeat nonimmigrant applicants (e.g., tourists) may face public charge review every time they apply. In the U.S., the focus is on admission or adjustment.
  • Documentation: DOS guidance makes clear that applicants must provide and, if requested, verify financial and other supporting documents. DHS’s proposed rule might require similar evidence, but details may come in future policy guidance.
  • Affidavit of Support: For DOS, even a technically sufficient affidavit is scrutinized for credibility and the sponsor’s financial reality. DHS’s approach is similar, but with less emphasis in the proposed rule on sponsor credibility.

Conclusion: Impacts on Applicants

Both DHS and DOS are moving to a more discretionary, case-by-case approach that looks beyond a narrow list of public benefits or financial factors. Applicants—whether seeking a green card in the United States or a visa abroad—may wish to document their financial stability, health, family situation, and employability in detail. Past use of any public assistance, even outside the United States, may be considered, though it is not automatically disqualifying.

The bottom line: Self-sufficiency is the touchstone, and officers at both DHS and DOS will have broad latitude to deny applications if they find an applicant is likely to become a public charge, based on the totality of the evidence.

Applicants should monitor for new interpretive guidance from DHS and updates to the DOS Foreign Affairs Manual as these policies evolve.

The Biden administration has revoked Presidential Proclamation 10014 of April 22, 2020 -Suspension of Entry of Immigrants Who Present a Risk to the United States Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (PP 10014).

PP 10014 was intended to stop the issuance of immigrant visas at embassies and consulates abroad in order to protect the U.S. labor market; however, it contained many notable exemptions. Exempt from PP 10014’s restrictions included immigrants with valid visas, those seeking to enter the United States in certain medical professions, EB-5 visa holders, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, members of the U.S. armed forces and their immediate relatives, and those whose entry was deemed to be in the national interest, among others.

It is not clear whether PP 10014 has actually protected the U.S. labor market, given that by law the majority of employment-based immigrants must satisfy a labor market test or have shown such a test is unwarranted (i.e., extraordinary ability, national interest waivers or multinational managers). As the Biden administration noted in its presidential proclamation, PP 10014 appeared mostly to harm the United States by preventing certain family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from entering the country. In that manner, PP 10014 served to function as a ban on family-based immigration and diversity visas. The U.S. immigration system was constructed by Congress to favor family-based immigration, and PP 10014 overturned that careful construction, leading some to believe that the Trump administration was using the pandemic as a pretext to push through an anti-immigrant agenda. Diversity visa winners were forced to sue in federal court for the right to utilize their lawfully obtained benefit to immigrate and have recently seen their visa expiration dates extended at the U.S. district court level.

While this will be a welcome step by many, it may not satisfy immigration advocates’ expectations of a full rollback of the Trump administration’s pandemic-related immigration restrictions. The Biden administration has not revoked Presidential Proclamation 10052 of June 22, 2020 – Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak (PP 10052), which has restricted the issuance of H-1B, H-2B, J and L visas from abroad. PP 10052 has also been subject to litigation and was enjoined at the U.S. district court level; however, that ruling was restricted to the plaintiff organizations and their members. This effectively limited the injunction to members of the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, TechNet, and Intrax, Inc.

In addition to PP 10052, the Biden administration has also continued the Trump administration’s suspension of the entry of certain travelers who spent any part of the 14-days prior to entry in the Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Brazil. These restrictions overlap with the CDC requirement that all travelers to the U.S. obtain a viral test within three days of flight departure, leading some to find that the suspension of entry should be reconsidered.

Lastly, the final challenge to restoring the U.S. immigration system will be the restoration of routine visa services at embassies and consulates worldwide. Since the pandemic began, many embassies and consulates have completely shut down or severely restricted visa processing, both for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. While these restrictions are largely pandemic-related and are in place with good reason, they have the effect of stymieing lawful immigration, as most foreigners who require a visa to enter the United States cannot obtain one, and therefore, cannot enter the country. This shadow ban on immigration affects all applicants, including family-based and employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visa holders. It is also the most inconsistent, as visa applicants are at the mercy of the operations of the consulate or embassy with jurisdiction over their foreign country of residence. Some embassies, like London, have severely restricted visa processing, while others, like Panama, are processing certain immigrant and nonimmigrant categories. In another example, the Amsterdam Embassy recently switched to only providing emergency nonimmigrant visa services despite the in-country case average hovering near its rate from October, a time when the embassy had expanded services. Visa applicants generally cannot shop around, as most embassies and consulates restrict processing at their location to residents of the jurisdiction they cover and, if they could apply at a different embassy or consulate, would have to pay a new visa fee.

While it is generally believed that the Biden administration will ultimately also revoke PP 10052 and resume routine consular operations worldwide (with appropriate pandemic-related measures), those actions cannot come soon enough for immigrants caught in limbo, many of whom are separated from loved ones or unable to start work.

President Trump signed the latest Continuing Resolution into law Friday night (Sept. 27) extending government operations and vital programs, such as EB-5,  through Nov. 21 –

Bill Announcement

Healthcare

Issued on: September 27, 2019

All News

On Friday, September 27, 2019, the President signed into law:

H.R. 4378, the “Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020, and Health Extenders Act of 2019,” which provides FY 2020 appropriations to Federal agencies through November 21, 2019, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government. Also extends authority for a broad range Medicare, Medicaid, public health, and human services activities.  https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/bill-announcement-54/ 

Please consult your GT attorney with specific questions and check back as this blog is updated as events warrant.