US pauses immigrant visa applications worldwide: report

The Trump administration has temporarily halted immigrant visa applications globally, as reported by The Financial Times (FT). This decision is aimed at providing "in-depth training" for consular officers, with the goal of identifying applicants who may need US assistance. Affected applicants received emails informing them that their interview appointments were being rescheduled, with no new dates provided.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott stated that the administration aims to ensure visa applicants are not likely to become a public charge, as defined under US law, and not likely to become dependent on US public benefits reserved for Americans in need. The department recently launched a global training initiative to equip consular officers to evaluate visa applicants comprehensively and consistently.

Many affected applicants had already spent significant amounts of money and disrupted their lives for scheduled interviews, only to have their appointments canceled. The State Department has not disclosed when appointments will resume, stating that appointments for visa services will be adjusted to accommodate the training.

The administration also plans to revoke the visas of foreigners who initially arrived as tourists or business travelers but later applied for asylum to stay indefinitely. Pigott confirmed that "up to two hundred thousand visas" could be affected, though the exact number remains dynamic and subject to rolling revocations. This move is part of the administration's broader effort to restrict entry for those who overstay their visas and to scrutinize social media accounts of applicants, emphasizing that a visa is a privilege, not a right.