Welcome to the Garfinkel Immigration news roundup, where every month we will summarize and provide links to the latest stories impacting U.S. immigration.
Below is the June 2025 edition of the Garfinkel Immigration news roundup:
President issues new travel ban affecting 19 countries
President Donald Trump issued a new travel ban which officially took effect June 9 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
The ban applies to nationals of the listed countries who are outside the United States and do not have a valid visa or entry document as of then.
The ban “fully restricts and limits” the entry of nationals from 12 countries, which include:
- Afghanistan
- Burma
- Chad
- Republic of the Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
Further, nationals from seven additional countries will be restricted from entering the United States with immigrant or B-1, B‑2, B-1/B-2, F, M, or J nonimmigrant visas. Those countries are:
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
Find out more about the travel ban here.
Recent updates about Venezuelan TPS, CHNV Parole Program
The Department of Homeland Security released two updates this month which could have major impacts for some Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and foreign nationals admitted into the United States under the CHNV Parole Program.
Below is further information about the recent updates.
Venezuelan TPS update
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced earlier this month that most Venezuelans who received TPS under the 2023 designation have had their status terminated, including those whose EADs expired in April 2025 and initially received an auto-extension pursuant to a Federal Registry notice.
However, Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries who received TPS EADs issued with October 2, 2026, expiration dates on or before February 5, 2025, will maintain TPS status, and their EADs will remain valid during the course of litigation.
DHS ends CHNV Parole Program
The Department of Homeland Security also announced it was ending the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) Parole Program, effective immediately. DHS said it will send notices of the cancellation directly “to the email addresses provided by the parolees.”
The parole program was initially created by former President Joe Biden in 2022 and provided temporary work authorization and deportation protection to more than 500,000 foreign nationals.
Understanding the EB-4 green card backlog for Religious Workers — and what you can do about it
Many religious organizations rely on foreign-born ministers, missionaries, and religious workers to serve congregations across the United States. The R-1 visa has long been a valuable tool to bring these individuals into the country temporarily, while the EB-4 “Religious Worker” green card category offers a pathway to permanent residency.
But in recent years, the EB-4 process has become increasingly difficult to navigate. The backlog in the immigrant visa category has left religious organizations in a bind, especially when some of their most valued workers are nearing the end of their five-year R-1 limit.
There is, however, a glimmer of hope: pending legislation called the Religious Workforce Protection Act could offer long-term relief for both workers and the organizations that sponsor them.
But, absent that bill becoming law, religious employers must understand the current immigration landscape and prepare proactively for any potential issues caused by backlogs and delays.
Learn more in the latest blog from Partner Meredith W. Barnette, head of Garfinkel Immigration’s Religious Worker Specialty Practice Group.
U.S. resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts
After a more than three-week pause, the Department of State (DOS) announced on June 18 it will resume interviews for student and exchange visitors applying for F, M, and J visas.
The DOS also said embassies and consulates will prioritize appointments for J-1 physicians. New “screening and vetting” procedures are also expected, as the DOS has advised that these applicants will also be “instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to public.”
The attorneys in Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm’s Healthcare and Education Specialty Practice Groups continue to monitor the situation closely. Student and exchange visitors applying for F, M, and J visas should contact the Firm’s attorneys with any questions or to learn more.
Learn more here via the Associated Press.
International students in the U.S.: Who they are, where they’re from
International students in the United States have received a lot of attention over the last few months because of various immigration actions taken by the Trump administration.
This story from NPR examines the number of international students currently studying in the United States, the countries that account for the most international students, the schools with the biggest international-student population, and more.
“New York University has remained one of the top, if not the top university, hosting the most international students for many years,” the story read. “During the 2023-2024 school year, NYU had close to 30,000 students from other countries. Coming in a regular close second is Northeastern University’s Boston campus and next is Columbia University.”
The story continued: “The number of students coming to America from other countries has continued to skyrocket, especially since 2006. There are now about 19 million students enrolled at U.S. colleges and close to 6% of those students, or slightly more than 1.1 million, are from another country, according to IIE data analyzing the 2023 to 2024 academic year that was collected from more than 680 colleges and universities.”
Read the full story from NPR here.
Foreign students out-earn their native-born peers
This story from Axios details a new study from the National Survey of College Graduates, which found that “workers with college degrees who come to the U.S. on student visas out-earn their native-born peers, but also do more of the research and development work critical to the economy.”
“As of 2023, there were about 2.1 million year-round full-time workers in the U.S. with Bachelor’s degrees who first came here on a student visa, per the Economic Innovation Group, which did the research,” the Axios story read. “They earned a median salary of $115,000, compared with an $87,000 median for native-born workers with at least a college degree.”
The story added that “the salary gap holds firm across age groups, the analysis finds.”