H-1B Layoff Review Executive Order (EO 14431) Implementation Tracker

Current status (September 24, 2026): Executive Order 14431 was signed on September 18 and published in the Federal Register on September 23, but the Department of Labor, USCIS and the State Department have not yet released any implementation guidance, form changes or FAQs. The only item in the order with a deadline is for the Department of Labor to begin reviewing previously filed LCAs within 30 days (around October 18).

This page only records how this executive order is being put into practice: who released what, on what date, and where to find the original. For how to read the order itself and what it leaves unclear, see our September 23 explainer, "New H-1B policy looks at company layoffs: will your extension, job change or green card be affected?"

What does the executive order require?

The order has four sections, and only Sections 2 and 3 actually impose requirements. According to the text:

• Three departments must share information with three others (Section 2). When handling H-1B LCAs, petitions and visas, the State Department, the Department of Labor and DHS must coordinate with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, which are responsible for providing information on wages, employment, education, industries and so on.
• H-1B adjudication must look at whether the employer has had layoffs (Section 3(a)). At all four stages, the LCA, the H-1B petition, the visa and admission to the US, one factor must be "taken into account": whether the employer, directly or indirectly, laid off workers in the past year or plans to lay off workers, where the layoffs have a negative effect on "similarly situated U.S. workers."
• The Department of Labor goes back over old LCAs (Section 3(b)). Within 30 days of signing, the Department of Labor, through its Wage and Hour Division (WHD), is to begin reviewing previously filed LCA data to decide whether to take further action against employers under INA 212(n)(2)(G).
• Departments are authorized to issue rules (Section 3(c)). The President delegates his authority under INA 215(a) to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Homeland Security, allowing them to issue rules, policies and operating guidance to carry out the order.

The text does not say: what counts as a layoff, how many people must be laid off, how "similarly situated" is determined, or whether a past layoff means denial. All of that has to wait for guidance from the departments.

Timeline

2025-09-19: The Department of Labor announced "Project Firewall," an H-1B enforcement initiative under which the Secretary of Labor personally approves investigations of employers where there is "reasonable cause to believe" they are not in compliance (DOL news release, program page). Personal approval by the Secretary and opening a case on reasonable cause is exactly what INA 212(n)(2)(G)(i) provides (statute text).

2025-11-24: The Department of Labor said Project Firewall had led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to update its materials on national origin discrimination; for example, a job ad saying "H-1B only" may be illegal (DOL news release).

2026-09-18: The President signed Executive Order 14431 (White House text). The same day, he also signed a proclamation extending the H-1B $100,000 entry restriction for another year. The two are separate actions.

2026-09-23: The executive order was published in the Federal Register, document number 2026-19555, 91 FR 60501 (Federal Register).

2026-09-24: We checked the Department of Labor, USCIS, the State Department, the White House, the Federal Register and federal court dockets and found no implementation documents or lawsuits (see the table below).

2026-10-18 (expected): The 30-day deadline for the Department of Labor to begin reviewing old LCAs. This day is a Sunday.

Which sources we checked

How does this affect you?

You're working on H-1B and your company had layoffs in the past year. Your current approval does not automatically become invalid because of this order; the text has no such provision. What's affected is the next thing you file: extensions, amendments, visa stamping after travel abroad and reentry. At each of these stages, the company's layoffs must be "taken into account." How, exactly, no department has said yet. Also, the Department of Labor's review of old LCAs targets employers. The consequences are back wages, fines and barring the employer from using H-1B for a period of time, not action aimed directly at individual employees.

You're changing jobs. Changing employers requires a new LCA and a new H-1B petition, and what counts is the new company's layoff record. If the new company recently had large layoffs, your petition falls within the scope of this order. What you can do now is ask the new employer clearly: how is its lawyer preparing documentation on the layoff question?

You're in the green card process or going through PERM. The executive order covers H-1B only. It doesn't mention PERM, I-140 or I-485. PERM already has its own rules on layoffs, unrelated to this order. But note one thing: many people extend H-1B beyond six years based on PERM or I-140, and that extension is itself an H-1B petition, so it is still within scope.

If you've been laid off. This order does not address an individual's status after a layoff. There is a separate proposed rule that would eliminate the 60-day grace period; see the related articles below.

What to watch next

• Whether the Department of Labor does anything around October 18. The text only requires it to "begin" a review, not to publish results. So there may well be no public information on the deadline, and that doesn't mean nothing is being done. We will watch DOL news releases and the Wage and Hour Division pages.
• Whether the Department of Labor changes the LCA form. If layoffs are to be "taken into account" at the LCA stage, the most direct way is to add questions to the form. Changing the form requires an information collection notice in the Federal Register, which leaves a trail.
• How USCIS will apply it. This could be a Policy Manual update, a policy memo, or questions about layoffs starting to show up in Requests for Evidence (RFEs). The first two would be public; the third would only be visible from the RFEs people receive.
• How the State Department and CBP will apply it. The text also covers visas and admission. There is no word yet on whether consular officers will ask about layoffs at visa interviews.
• Lawsuits. None found so far. Usually there is nothing concrete to sue over until agencies actually start denying cases under this order or issuing rules.

Related articles

• New H-1B policy looks at company layoffs: will your extension, job change or green card be affected? (explainer on the executive order)
• H-1B $100,000 restriction extended another year: does it affect people already in the US or waiting for a green card? (the other action signed the same day)
• The 60-day grace period after an H-1B layoff may be eliminated, and spouses' clocks run too
• H-1B / L-1 maximum stay calculator
• PERM labor certification timeline calculator

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.