Trump Administration Pauses Immigrant Visas Worldwide After Judge Blocked 75-Country Ban
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Aug 25
Trump Administration Pauses Immigrant Visas Worldwide After Judge Blocked 75-Country Ban
3 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Aug 25
Summary
US embassies and consulates worldwide are rescheduling immigrant visa interviews after the Trump administration paused applications for officer training, with no restart date announced.
The State Department said the training will help consular officers apply “public charge” screening more consistently and identify applicants deemed likely to rely on US benefits.
The move follows a federal judge’s ruling last week striking down Trump’s January policy that halted applications from 75 mostly poorer countries, saying it overrode consular authority set by Congress.
Affected applicants had already spent thousands of dollars and traveled for interviews, lawyers said, prompting fresh complaints online from places including Mumbai and Naples.
The pause extends a broader Trump push to tighten legal immigration through new visa and green-card limits, refugee cuts and policies forcing many applicants to process cases in their country of citizenship.