A September 2026 US immigration recap: the blocked birthright citizenship order, Hungary and Poland’s resumed visa processing, expanded social media screening, and Big Tech’s fight against a $103,265 H-1B fee.
September 2026 turned into one of the more consequential months for US immigration policy in recent memory, and the headlines landed in several very different places at once. A federal court stopped the Trump administration’s renewed attempt to narrow birthright citizenship. The State Department quietly resumed green card processing for two countries while leaving most of the world waiting, even as it widened the list of visa categories subject to mandatory social media screening. And some of the biggest names in American technology, including companies that build the AI tools reshaping entire industries, publicly told the administration that a proposed six-figure visa fee would do more harm than good. For professionals in Africa and Southeast Asia tracking the US immigration landscape, each of these developments carries real, practical weight.
Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Latest Birthright Citizenship Order
On September 2, a federal judge in Maryland blocked the Trump administration’s second attempt to narrow birthright citizenship, just months after the Supreme Court ruled against the president’s original, broader executive order. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction against the narrower order, signed August 6, which sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US to parents affiliated with terrorist organizations or foreign governments. Boardman found the new order was, in her words, almost certainly unconstitutional, writing that its carveouts bore little resemblance to the narrow exceptions the Supreme Court had actually recognized. The ruling does not change anything for the vast majority of children born in the US to foreign national parents, including skilled professionals on work visas, but it underscores how actively this issue continues to be litigated, and how unlikely any near-term change to birthright citizenship rules remains while the case works its way through appeals.
U.S. Resumes Immigrant Visa Processing for Hungary and Poland While Broader Pause Continues
Earlier in September, Reuters reported that the Trump administration had quietly resumed immigrant visa processing for applicants from Hungary and Poland, even as a broader pause on green card interviews remained in place for most of the world. The selective restart traces back to a January 2026 State Department decision suspending immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries over public charge concerns, a policy a federal judge later ruled against. Rather than reopening processing everywhere, the State Department instead paused immigrant visa interviews globally in August while rolling out a new training program, then singled out Hungary and Poland for priority treatment, according to people familiar with the decision. No public explanation has been given for why those two countries were chosen first. For applicants elsewhere, including much of Africa and Southeast Asia, the practical result is the same uncertainty that has defined 2026: delayed interviews, unclear timelines, and no official date for a full, worldwide resumption.
U.S. Expands Social Media Screening for More Visa Categories
The State Department announced on September 18 that it will expand mandatory social media screening to three more nonimmigrant visa categories, I visas for foreign media representatives, TN visas for Canadian and Mexican professionals under USMCA, and TD visas for their dependents, effective October 1. Applicants in these categories must set all social media profiles to public or open ahead of their visa interview and keep them accessible throughout processing. This builds on a screening program that already covers F-1 and M-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, H-1B and H-3 workers, K-1 fiance applicants, and several other categories following expansions earlier in the year. The State Department has said the goal is identifying applicants who may pose national security or public safety concerns, though it has not detailed the specific criteria consular officers use. For visa applicants generally, the direction of travel is clear: online presence review is becoming a standard part of the process across most nonimmigrant categories, not an exception reserved for a handful of them.
U.S. Tech Industry Pushes Back Against Proposed $103,265 H-1B Fee
The most closely watched H-1B development this month came from an unlikely source: the tech industry itself. TechNet, a trade group representing Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic among others, filed formal opposition on September 24 to a DHS proposal that would add a $103,265 fee to most new H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. DHS proposed the fee in August, estimating it could raise roughly $8.8 billion a year based on an expected 85,000 cap-subject petitions, with proceeds going toward visa adjudication, fraud detection, and broader immigration system costs. TechNet’s comments warned the fee would hit startups and smaller companies hardest and could push AI talent and investment toward competitors like China. The proposal is separate from, and could potentially stack with, a $100,000 payment requirement the administration had already extended for certain H-1B workers earlier in the year. DHS is now reviewing public comments before deciding whether to finalize the rule.
What This Means for Professionals Watching From Abroad
Taken together, these four stories describe an immigration system in genuine flux: part restrained by the courts, part applied unevenly across countries, part watching applicants’ online lives more closely than ever, and part facing direct pushback from the companies that rely on it most. For skilled professionals in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, the Philippines, and beyond, the practical lesson is the same one AgoraVisa keeps returning to. The H-1B route is only growing more expensive and less predictable, while extraordinary ability categories like the O-1A, EB-1A, and EB-2 NIW remain uncapped, free of lottery odds, and unaffected by the fee debate currently playing out in Washington. If this month’s news has you rethinking which visa path actually fits your situation,
AgoraVisa can help you figure out where you stand. Visit agoravisa.com to get started.
AgoraVisa is not a law firm and this article does not constitute legal advice. It reflects publicly reported developments as of late September 2026. Immigration policy can change quickly, so always confirm current rules with an official government source or a licensed immigration attorney before making decisions based on this information.
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