The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the United States will publish a proposed rule abolishing the so-called "deference rule" from USCIS this Wednesday, the mechanism that currently requires immigration officers to accept the prior approval of a work visa when reviewing an extension.
If the proposal becomes a permanent regulation, each visa renewal—H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, E, and other categories of Form I-129—would be evaluated from scratch, as if it were a completely new petition.
The measure, identified as USCIS file 2026-0529 and signed by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, is not yet in effect.
The deferment continues to apply until a final rule is published, and the public has until approximately November 13, 2026 to submit comments at regulations.gov under that docket number.
For Cuban professionals working in the United States on employer-sponsored visas—doctors on H-1B in Florida hospitals, engineers and technologists, artists and athletes with O-1, executives with L-1—the proposal introduces an additional uncertainty at an already complicated time.
According to data from USCIS cited in the document, between fiscal years 2022 and 2025, an average of 208,429 annual petitions were granted deference, accounting for 30% of the total I-129 petitions submitted.
Este cambio podría afectar a miles de cubanos con visas de trabajo en EE.UU. Sigue todos los detalles sobre visas, USCIS y política migratoria en nuestra sección de
The most immediate impact would not be economic, but rather temporary. DHS estimates that the elimination of deference would generate approximately 6,044 requests for additional evidence (RFE) per year.
The problem is that requests that receive an RFE take an average of 76 days to be resolved, compared to 12 days for those that do not receive one: a difference of 64 calendar days that can leave a worker in a state of uncertainty regarding their job and immigration status.
DHS justifies the proposal with data on visits to workplaces: in H-1B extensions during the period with deference (fiscal years 2022-2025), the combined percentage of fraud and non-compliance was 22.39%, compared to the 16.77% recorded in the period without deference (fiscal years 2018-2020).
For L-1A extensions, the figures were 24.46% compared to 18.37%, according to data from the DHS itself.
This is not the first time the deference rule has disappeared. The policy was established in 2004, rescinded by the first Trump administration in 2017, reinstated by the Biden administration in 2021, and incorporated into federal regulation in December 2024.
Now, the second Trump administration proposes to eliminate it again, acknowledging in the document itself that the arguments used in 2024 to codify it "were exaggerated and not properly weighed against the negative effects of deference."
The proposal adds to a series of measures to tighten immigration that have affected Cubans in 2026: additional fees of $4,000 for H-1B extensions and $4,500 for L-1 that took effect on September 9, as well as a parallel proposal to eliminate the 60-day grace period after job loss for holders of H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, and E visas.
The context is especially sensitive for the Cuban doctors who went through a migration limbo in 2026: more than 300 healthcare professionals were unable to practice despite having passed their revalidation exams, a situation that worsened due to USCIS's pause on processing for nationals from 39 countries—including Cuba—effective from December 2025 and lifted in July 2026.
Before the rule is finalized, experts recommend preparing each application as if it were a first request. Jeff Joseph, president of Immigration Strategy at Manifest Law and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, summarizes it this way: "Each petition should be submitted as if it were a first-time application, and no eligibility should be assumed based on a prior approval in the same category for the same position."
The can be a useful starting point for those who need to navigate this process.
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