On September 20, 2025, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the White House issued guidance clarifying the Proclamation on H1B visas issued on September 19, 2025. To summarize, the updates clarify that: 

• The Proclamation on Restrictions on Entry of Certain Non-Immigrant Workers issued on September 19, 2025 does not apply to individuals who currently have valid H-1B non-immigrant visas, or employees whose petitions were filed prior to the effective date of the proclamation[11:59 PM EDT, Saturday, September 21, 2025].
• Furthermore, the agencies’ updates and White House FAQs make clear that individuals with current valid H1B visas are not barred from traveling in and out of the United States.
• The new H1B fees ($100,000 per petitioner) applies to any new H-1B visa petitions submitted after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025. 

While it remains unclear whether cap-exempt institutions (such as Brown University) will be subject to the proposed fees - and we are seeking additional clarification on this important impact - it is sufficiently clear at this time that the proclamation does not impact international travel and re-entry for H1B employees with current, valid H1B visas.

As a result, we are amending our guidance: current H-1B employees with valid visas are not prevented from international travel. However, we continue to advise all international employees (and students) to exercise discretion when planning non-essential international travel, and to register any university-related travel with Brown Travel.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact OGE (globalbrown@brown.edu) or OISSS (oisss@brown.edu).

This is an emerging situation. Updates will be provided as additional information  becomes available.