H-1B Executive Order: Employer Layoffs Become Part of Review
Current status
SignedAgencies implementing
In effect?
SignedAgencies implementing
Community score
Last checked
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The order tells the State Department (visas), DOL (LCAs) and DHS (H-1B petitions and entry) to use other agencies’ wage, employment and education data to check H-1B cases, and to consider the sponsor’s relevant layoffs from the past year or planned. “Relevant” has three conditions: the employer filing for you, jobs similar to yours, and timing within the past year or already planned. The order focuses on H-1B workers entering or about to enter the U.S. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division must also start re-checking employers’ past LCAs within 30 days to see whether enforcement is needed.
Who is affected
H-1B applicants, holders and sponsoring employers. Pay most attention if your employer had layoffs in the past year or has announced them, and you have a visa interview or entry coming up.
Keep in mind
Layoffs are one factor in the review, weighed by the agencies and the reviewing officer; H-1B status you already hold stays valid.
Next to watch
Estimated · Date unknown · DOL starts re-checking past LCAs (due to begin by October 18), and agencies issue their implementing documents.
Policy background
00 / BACKGROUND
The President signed the order, Enhancing Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the Administration of the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program, on September 18, 2026; it was published in the Federal Register on September 23 as Executive Order 14431. An executive order is the President’s working instruction to federal agencies: they adjust how they operate, but the order itself does not change federal regulations, so it skips the proposal and public-comment steps.
The order has several sections: section 2 calls for agencies to coordinate and share data; section 3 covers layoff review, re-checking LCAs and enforcement; section 4 says everything must be done within existing law and budgets. The specific review standards, document lists and timelines will be set in the agencies’ implementing documents.
Around the same time came two PERM enforcement actions aimed at specific companies. PERM is the labor certification that is the first step of an employment-based green card. At an October 8 White House briefing, a Labor Department official announced a suspension of new and pending PERM applications for named companies including Microsoft and Adobe; other companies’ PERM cases continue as usual. On October 16 the Justice Department (DOJ) announced a settlement with Cloudera: Cloudera must withdraw pending PERM cases that used an inactive recruiting mailbox, and for 24 months from its latest withdrawal it may not file PERM applications (ETA Form 9089) or post PERM job ads.
PERM enforcement, the H-1B LCA review and the #12 PERM reform (1205-AC29) are three separate matters.
Potential impact
01 / IMPACT
OUR TAKE · ANALYSIS
Employer layoffs are now on the H-1B review checklist.
Our view: what the order adds is a factor on the review checklist, without a set outcome. Three things are clear: it looks at the employer filing for you; the jobs cut must be similar to yours; and the timing is the past year or layoffs already announced. How much weight layoffs carry, whether extra documents are needed and whether reviews slow down will be set by the agencies’ implementing documents. Section 3(a) names H-1B workers entering or about to enter the U.S.; how extensions and job changes inside the country treat layoffs will also come from those documents.
What counts as a “relevant layoff”: three conditions
The layoffs agencies must consider have to meet all three conditions. First, they were made by the employer filing this LCA or petition; cuts at a parent, affiliate or client count only as that employer’s “direct or indirect” layoffs. Second, they affected similarly situated U.S. workers, meaning comparable jobs in duties, qualifications and location, as agencies define it in practice. Third, they happened in the past year or are announced and planned. These conditions decide whether a case falls inside the review scope; once inside, the reviewing officer weighs the whole picture.
Example 1 · Hypothetical
Lin works in data analysis at a Bay Area company that laid off three data analysts at the same level last November. The company is now filing an H-1B petition for Lin, who has a visa interview in October in Shanghai. All three conditions line up: same employer, comparable roles, within the past year. The consular officer is most likely to ask why the position is still needed, how Lin’s duties differ from those of the people let go, and why the company is hiring rather than rehiring. Answers should match the duties in the offer letter and the LCA.
Example 2 · Hypothetical
Lin holds an approved H-1B visa and is sent to secondary inspection on first entry, meaning further questioning in a separate room. The questions at the port are the same: why the position is still needed, how Lin’s duties differ, and how the company recruited before filing. An offer letter, job description or org summary makes them easier to answer. CBP decides on the spot whether to admit, keep inspecting or refuse entry, and relevant layoffs are one factor the officer considers. If something is unclear, Lin can ask the officer to explain the next step.
Example 3 · Hypothetical
If the roles cut were unlike Lin’s, that is the point to make at the window and at the port, backed by recruiting records, headcount changes or team structure. The order asks about relevant layoffs only; cuts at other times or in other kinds of jobs are outside it.
Wages, degrees and jobs get cross-checked
State, DOL and DHS must work with Commerce, Education and the Small Business Administration (SBA), using wage, employment, education and industry data to check filings. We expect more explaining and verifying; degree and wage requirements stay where they are today.
Past LCAs get re-checked
DOL’s Wage and Hour Division must start re-checking employers’ past LCAs within 30 days to see whether action is needed under INA section 212(n)(2)(G). The INA is the Immigration and Nationality Act, and this section lets DOL open its own investigation of an H-1B employer when it has reasonable cause. The review targets employers and looks for enforcement leads; an investigation follows only if it finds one. Approved LCAs and H-1Bs stay valid.
Example 1 · Hypothetical
Chen’s H-1B is approved, and his employer filed several LCAs last year. DOL is now re-checking that employer’s LCA data for enforcement leads. Individual workers come into it only if a problem is found and a separate case is opened; Chen’s approval stays valid.
Example 2 · Hypothetical
If the review leads to a case against the employer, the basis is INA section 212(n)(2)(G) and the target is the employer, not Chen. What Chen should watch is whether DOL publishes results and opens any proceeding against this employer.
Related PERM actions: check whether your employer is named
On October 8 officials announced a PERM suspension for named companies including Microsoft and Adobe; Cloudera’s settlement bars it from new PERM filings and job ads for 24 months from its latest withdrawal. The two differ in scope, so check your employer’s notice and the settlement terms separately. Everyone else’s PERM continues as usual, and existing H-1B status continues too.
First, watch whether DOL starts its review. More important is whether the agencies’ documents settle two questions: how “similar jobs” are judged, and how much weight layoffs carry. If new regulations follow, we will track them separately.
What happens in each case?
Pick a situation to see what it would mean for you. The three are side-by-side possibilities, in no particular order.
IF THIS HAPPENS A · Agencies act under existing powers
Standards become clearer
Assumption: Agencies publish policies, operational guidance or enforcement explanations.
Potential effects in this scenario
Layoffs, wages and job information get checked more systematically; actual effects depend on the documents.
Signals to watch
State, DHS and DOL documents, and real cases.
These scenarios are our analysis and get updated as new documents come out.
What would change this analysis?
What it is
The President’s working instruction to agencies. Agencies adjust how they review cases; federal regulations stay the same.
Which stages
LCAs, petitions and visas; section 3(a) also names entry.
Which layoffs count
All three: the employer filing for you, jobs similar to yours, within the past year or planned.
Fees
This order covers review and enforcement. The $103,265 surcharge in #02 is a separate DHS proposal.
Progress
03 / Presidential executive order
The President signed the order on September 18, 2026, directing agencies to coordinate and consider relevant layoffs. Agencies are putting it into practice; implementing documents and review standards come next.
Currently waiting for
DOL starting its review of past LCAs, and State, DHS and DOL implementing documents.
In progress · Agency implementation
State, DOL and DHS carry out the coordination and layoff-review instructions within their existing powers. DOL must start re-checking past LCAs within 30 days.
Key dates
04 / TIMELINE
The President signed the order: agencies coordinate, consider relevant layoffs and re-check past LCAs.
Published in the Federal Register as Executive Order 14431 (91 FR 60501–60503).
Related PERM action: at a White House press conference, a DOL official announced a suspension of new and pending PERM cases for named companies including Microsoft and Adobe.
DOJ announced the Cloudera settlement: no PERM filings for 24 months from its latest withdrawal.