This November or December the Presidentmay expand the H-1B rules and double the number of employment-based green cards,through Executive Action.  Either wouldbe welcome to an American industry that cannot find US workers in low supply occupationssuch as healthcare and information technology.  The Executive Action will happen between the November4, 2014 and January 3, 2015.
Earlier this month the Presidenthinted that he will useExecutive Action to liberalize the H-1B program.  One method may be to finally enact rules thatextendwork authorization to spouses of H-1B workers.
Pundits have also said that thePresident couldeffectively double the number of employment-based green cards by changingthe way that employment-based green card are counted.  Doubling the number of employment-based greencards would make most employment-based green card categories current,eliminating retrogression.
The Executive Action doctrineallows Presidents to implement changes to the law, as long as those changes areinterpretations of established law and not the creation of new law.  There is a fine line between aninterpretation and the creation of law.
The President controversially took ExecutiveAction in June 2012 when he issued the Deferred Action for ChildhoodArrivals (DACA).  DACAallows certain people who came to the United States as children and meetseveral guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for a period oftwo years, subject to renewal.
The President originally plannedto use Executive Action this summer in other areas of immigration law.  He has postponed those plans until after ElectionDay in order to appease Democrats in tough districts. 

It is expected that the House of Representativeswill remain firmly in control of the Republicans.  The Senate, which is presently in control ofthe Democrats, will almostsurely flip to Republican control.  Thiswill give the Republicans control of both houses of Congress when the newCongress starts on January 3, 2015.  Forthis reason, the President is expected to act before the new Congress is sworninto office.