(FLORIDA) — Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. struck down two USCIS policies on June 5, 2026, ordering the agency to stop indefinite adjudication holds that had frozen work permits and status-related filings for some international students in Florida and across the country.

The ruling in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS, No. 1:26-cv-00132, cut into a system that had left graduating students in limbo through the spring commencement season. McConnell wrote that the policies “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo” and said USCIS lacked authority to pause adjudications indefinitely based solely on national origin.

That order arrived after months of federal restrictions that blocked final approvals for employment authorization and change-of-status requests tied to students from countries covered by recent travel bans. In Florida, university demographics from June 2026 showed more than 270 international students graduated from six public universities while their cases remained stalled.

USCIS had imposed the holds under policy memorandum PM-602-0194, effective January 1, 2026. The memo required an “indefinite hold” on final approval notices for certain immigration benefits, including Optional Practical Training, or OPT, for citizens of 39 designated “high-risk” countries.

Under that Benefits Hold policy, the agency stopped approving Form I-765, used for Employment Authorization, and Form I-539, used for Change of Status, for students from countries listed in Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998. The group included Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Haiti and Venezuela, along with people using Palestinian Authority travel documents.

Florida students felt the effect at a particularly exposed moment. Graduation starts a 60-day grace period for many F-1 students, but a pending OPT request without approval leaves no work authorization in hand. Students caught in the freeze faced the prospect of running out that clock while waiting for a government decision that never came.

One of them was Arshia Esmaeilian, an Iranian national who graduated from the University of South Florida in May 2026. Without an approved OPT application, Esmaeilian faced the risk of losing legal status, with weeks to leave the country or face removal exposure if the hold stayed in place.

The restrictions went beyond first-time filings. Some students and other noncitizens with previously approved benefits faced “comprehensive re-reviews,” a second layer of scrutiny that carried the risk of visa revocations and abrupt loss of status even after earlier approval.

Federal officials had defended the policy in national-security terms. In a May 22, 2026 statement, USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said, “We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly. From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances. This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes.”

Court filings in the Dorcas case also cited remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem defending the travel bans and processing pauses. She described the measures as a “full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” according to those filings.

The court’s order also struck down what USCIS had called the Country-Specific Negative Factor guidance. Together with the Benefits Hold policy, that framework had created a system in which nationality could trigger long, open-ended delays in routine case processing.

Students in Florida were dealing with those federal barriers while the state moved to restrict future enrollment. In March 2026, the Florida House passed measures to cap international and out-of-state enrollment at preeminent research universities, including UF, FSU, USF, FIU and UCF, at 5% of new students.

The proposed cap marked a sharp cut from prior years and added another pressure point for campuses that recruit heavily abroad. Graduating students already trapped by adjudication holds saw the state debate as another sign that the pipeline for international enrollment in Florida was narrowing at both ends, from admission to post-graduation work authorization.

Six public universities accounted for the group of more than 270 graduates identified in the June demographics. The institutions named in that count included FSU, FIU, FAMU and UCF, with students leaving commencement ceremonies without knowing whether USCIS would clear the filings that usually allow them to start jobs, remain in status or move to the next step in their academic plans.

McConnell’s ruling changed the legal position immediately, but not the day-to-day reality for everyone affected. USCIS now must resume processing under the court order, yet students still need actual approvals to secure work authorization, preserve status or make travel plans.

DHS is expected to appeal, which leaves uncertainty in place even after the judge rejected the policy. That gap between a court win and a practical result has become the central problem for recent graduates who must make decisions on housing, employment offers and international travel while the administration weighs its next move.

Travel remains especially fraught. Students from countries named in the proclamations have had to weigh not only delayed benefits but also the effect of travel bans on visa issuance and reentry. A student who departs the United States without a valid path back can lose far more than a summer internship or a first job; departure can end the academic and professional plans built around an F-1 program.

Universities in the state have responded by directing students to immigration updates and official guidance pages rather than broad assurances. Florida State University maintains [immigration updates](https://cge.fsu.edu/international-students/f-1-and-j-1-immigration-updates) for F-1 and J-1 students, while DHS has published the presidential proclamations at [its proclamations page](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/02/02/suspension-visa-issuance-foreign-nationals).

Federal agencies have also continued to post public-facing guidance during the litigation. USCIS maintains its [newsroom](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom), and the Department of Homeland Security’s Study in the States site has posted advice for students at [Study in the States](https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/blog/2026/05/finish-strong-maintaining-status).

Students checking those pages are looking for evidence that the June 5 order has translated into approvals, not simply a change in legal posture. The distinction matters for graduates who have already finished their programs and now sit inside a short post-completion window with no guarantee that a restarted adjudication will arrive before their lawful stay runs out.

Advisers on campus have urged students to keep close contact with international offices and to track any movement in pending cases. That advice reflects a system in which a court can invalidate a policy in one week, an agency can prepare an appeal in the next, and the student still wakes up waiting for the same employment card or status decision.

Florida’s graduating class stepped into that uncertainty at the worst possible time: after earning degrees, before receiving work authorization, and amid overlapping travel bans, adjudication holds and state-level limits on future enrollment. McConnell’s ruling removed one barrier, but many students are still waiting for the document that turns a legal victory into the right to stay and work.

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