By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Sept 23: The Department of Homeland Security on Monday published its fall 2025 regulatory agenda, spotlighting wide-ranging reforms to the H-1B visa program and employment-based green card petitions while advancing changes to EB-5 investor fees and new cybersecurity rules for U.S. transportation systems.

The agenda, released in the Federal Register, lays out regulations that DHS and its agencies plan to propose, finalise, or withdraw. Officials said the document is intended to “enable the public to be more aware of, and effectively participate in, the Department’s regulatory and deregulatory activity”.

The H-1B program, a gateway for high-skilled foreign workers in sectors like technology and health care, has been at the centre of DHS reforms over the past two years, it said.

See Also: US Tech Firms Urge H-1B Visa Workers to Return Before Sunday Deadline

In October 2023, DHS proposed broad changes to the definition of “speciality occupation” and the standards governing employer-employee relationships. The draft rule also introduced new authority for work-site inspections, offered limited flexibility for start dates, and addressed so-called “cap-gap” situations for F-1 students waiting for their H-1B petitions to take effect.

The proposal drew heavily on public feedback collected since 2021 and was followed by two major final rules. On Feb. 2, 2024, DHS implemented a beneficiary-centric selection system for the H-1B lottery. The change aimed to curb duplicate registrations and fraud by tying entries directly to individual workers rather than employers, it said.

Another final rule, published on Dec. 18, 2024, took effect Jan. 17, 2025, and “modernise [d] and improve[d] the efficiency of the H-1B program, add[ed] benefits and flexibilities, and improve[d] integrity measures,” according to the agency.

Those updates codified USCIS’s policy of giving deference to prior approvals when reviewing new petitions and clarified the requirement that amended petitions be filed when material job changes occur.

DHS officials said the goal was to balance fraud prevention with predictability for both workers and employers.

The agenda also flags a forthcoming Petition for Immigrant Worker Reforms rule, covering employment-based green cards in the EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories. The proposal would define “bona fide job offer,” modernise standards for extraordinary ability applicants and outstanding professors and researchers, and clarify evidentiary requirements for national interest waivers and physicians of international renown.

Alongside, USCIS will revisit the EB-5 investor visa program with a fee rule, aligning application costs with the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.

Temporary worker visas were also addressed. DHS finalized updates to the H-2A and H-2B programs in December 2024, with changes effective this year to strengthen oversight and expand worker protections.

Outside immigration, DHS agencies are advancing new security measures. The Coast Guard is preparing final training requirements for passenger ships, and new maritime cybersecurity rules took effect in July 2025. TSA, CISA, and CBP are pursuing long-term actions ranging from employee vetting to regulating ammonium nitrate sales and tightening rules for low-value shipments.

[5WH/VS]

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