The Trump administration has announced a pause on visa appointments worldwide amid the administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown. The pause, confirmed by the State Department on Tuesday, comes as global training initiatives have been launched across all U.S. embassies and consulates that will temporarily halt visa applications that have reached the interview stage. Visa services will be adjusted to accommodate the training.
During his second term in office, President Donald Trump has moved to crack down on immigration and tighten entry into the U.S. This has seen a drive in deportations, revocations of visas and rejections of applications. Newsweek has mapped the countries that will be worst hit by the move by looking at the top ten countries with the most legal immigrants into the U.S.
The countries with the most legal immigrants to the U.S. are: Newsweek has mapped the countries with the most legal immigrants into the U.S. based on the most available data from the World Population Review, which is dated to 2023 and as such, will not encompass any recent changes. According to data from the Migration Policy Institute, the largest immigrant groups in the U.S., are as follows: News of the pause comes amid wider changes to the visa process and tightening restrictions. As Trump has pursued his immigration crackdown – which he says aims to improve domestic security – visas and green cards have been revoked and applications have been rejected over a number of issues, including political opinions and pro-Palestinian advocacy.
The Trump administration is set to remove visas of up to 200,000 people who have applied for, or are currently seeking asylum in the United States, in a move that would signal the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history. The State Department is set to announce that B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 will be revoked if their holders have either sought asylum or are now seeking asylum, as per a report in The which cited State Department documents. The implementation of the crackdown though has faced various legal setbacks.
District Judge Jeannette Vargas struck down a policy that suspended the processing of visas from 75 countries, including Iran and Somalia. The Trump administration deemed nationals from those countries likely to require public assistance in the U.S. Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his authority in issuing the policy.
Both the move to revoke visas and the temporary pause of visa appointments could go on to yield legal opposition. Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.
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