Trump Admin Pauses All Immigrant Visa Appointments

The State Department has temporarily paused all immigrant visa appointments for applicants across the globe.

The federal government said it made the decision because it needs time to train all consular staff to better screen visa applicants to determine whether they are likely to become dependent on the American welfare system, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. It is not clear when the appointments will restart.

“A more prosperous America means ensuring that visa applicants are not likely to become a public charge, as defined under U.S. law and regulation, and not likely to become dependent on U.S. public benefits reserved for qualified Americans in need,” the State Department said in a statement.

The department said the training would ensure consular officers “are fully equipped to evaluate every visa applicant comprehensively and consistently.” The pause is not expected to affect visas for tourists, foreign workers, or students, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Last Friday, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s 75-country visa ban that sought to target those looking to take advantage of taxpayer-funded public benefits.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said the 75-country policy  “represents a direct abrogation” of the consular officers’ authority to determine which foreigners are eligible for visas.

The latest move comes as the Trump administration has taken recent actions to reform legal immigration programs.

As part of the effort, the federal government has revoked roughly 175,000 visas tied to individuals accused or convicted of crimes.

Federal officials are preparing to revoke the business and tourist visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who later sought asylum in the United States. The targets of the plan received their visas between 2016 and 2026.

In an X post on Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau voiced the administration’s concerns about immigrants who game the visa system to extend their stay in the United States by later applying for asylum.

“People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims. Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws; rather, it’s supposed to provide a narrow safe harbor for persons persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,” Landau wrote.

The Trump administration also recently proposed a $103,265 fee for employers looking to hire employees through the H-1B visa program, arguing that employers have abused the program to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor and that the existing system fails to prioritize the most highly skilled workers.

It is the administration’s second attempt at instituting a six-figure fee for the program after a federal judge struck down a previous plan to charge a $100,000 fee.