U.S. pauses visa appointments worldwide amid Trump’s global immigration crackdown

The US State Department has paused visa appointments worldwide as part of a global training initiative for staff. The training aims to help consular officers screen out applicants deemed likely to become dependent on US public benefits and ensure comprehensive and consistent evaluation of visa applicants.

According to the US State Department, appointments for visa services will be adjusted to accommodate the training, but no specific details on the training timeline were provided. Applicants with already scheduled interviews were informed that their appointments had been cancelled and would be rescheduled.

The pause on visa appointments comes amid an ongoing immigration crackdown by the US government under President Donald Trump. The crackdown includes revocations of visas and green cards, and rejection of applications over various reasons, including political opinions and pro-Palestinian protests. Trump says the crackdown aims to improve domestic security. The initiative has faced some legal setbacks, including a US judge striking down a policy suspending immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries.

Brief written by urgent.news from 3News, Business Recorder, The National UAE, Free Press Journal — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.