The United States has paused all immigrant visa applications worldwide as the Donald Trump administration moves to tighten restrictions on applicants it considers likely to rely on US public assistance.
A State Department official confirmed the pause on Tuesday, saying the agency launched the initiative at all US embassies and consulates in early August.
Guardian quoted the official on Wednesday, saying visa appointments had to be adjusted to accommodate “in-depth training.”
The State Department added that the move is “to ensure all consular officers are fully equipped to evaluate every visa applicant comprehensively and consistently.”
Applicants whose interviews had already been scheduled were sent emails informing them that their appointments had been cancelled and that they would be notified of new dates, according to the Financial Times.
The move is intended to ensure visa applicants do not become reliant on US public benefits, according to agency officials.
It is also part of a broader immigration crackdown under the Trump administration targeting both lawful and undocumented immigration.
The latest development comes a day after the administration announced plans to revoke the visas of asylum seekers who initially entered the US for tourism or business before applying for asylum.
As PUNCH Online previously reported, the State Department said it was working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify and revoke visas of people who entered the US as temporary visitors but subsequently applied for asylum.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said obtaining a visa to seek asylum was “fraud — which is grounds for visa revocation.”
The White House said up to 200,000 visas could be affected, describing the move as the “largest mass visa revocation in history”.
The State Department, however, did not confirm the figure, saying the number of revocations remained dynamic and would be carried out on a rolling basis.
The latest pause follows an earlier attempt by the Trump administration to restrict visa applications on similar “public charge” grounds. That measure, which affected nationals of 75 countries, was recently overturned by a federal judge.
The restrictions have raised concerns among immigration advocates and lawyers, who said the latest pause could create immediate obstacles for applicants who had already spent money and made arrangements for scheduled interviews.
Brian Simmons, an attorney at immigration law firm Fragomen in Washington, told the Financial Times that many affected applicants had likely “spent thousands of dollars and disrupted their lives to attend scheduled interviews, only to have their appointments cancelled at the last minute”.
It remains unclear when the cancelled appointments will be rescheduled.
The Trump administration has also introduced other restrictions on visa applicants, including reviews of their social media histories and additional processing costs, according to the Associated Press.
