US SUSPENDS IMMIGRANT VISA APPLICATIONS WORLDWIDE
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By; Sunmola Ganiyat
The United States has suspended immigrant visa processing worldwide as the administration of President Donald Trump moves to tighten immigration controls and prevent applicants deemed likely to depend on public assistance from entering the country.
A State Department official confirmed the suspension on Tuesday, saying the initiative was introduced across US embassies and consulates in early August.
According to the official, visa appointments have been adjusted to allow for additional training aimed at strengthening the assessment of applicants.
The State Department said the measure was necessary to ensure consular officers were adequately prepared to assess visa applicants “comprehensively and consistently.”
Applicants whose interviews had already been scheduled were reportedly notified by email that their appointments had been cancelled and would be rescheduled at a later date.
The suspension is intended to ensure that immigrants are not likely to become dependent on US public benefits, according to agency officials.
It forms part of the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which targets both legal and undocumented immigration.
The development came a day after the administration announced plans to revoke the visas of some asylum seekers who initially entered the US on tourist or business visas before subsequently applying for asylum.
The State Department said it was working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify and revoke the visas of individuals who entered the country as temporary visitors before seeking asylum.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott described obtaining a visa for the purpose of seeking asylum as fraud and said such conduct could constitute grounds for visa revocation.
The White House claimed that as many as 200,000 visas could be affected, describing the action as the largest mass visa revocation in US history. However, the State Department did not confirm the figure, saying the number of revocations remained subject to change and would be handled on a rolling basis.
The latest suspension follows an earlier attempt by the Trump administration to impose similar restrictions on visa applicants based on “public charge” considerations. The measure, which affected citizens of 75 countries, was recently blocked by a federal judge.
Immigration advocates and lawyers have expressed concern that the new suspension could create difficulties for applicants who had already spent significant amounts of money and made arrangements to attend scheduled interviews.
Brian Simmons, an immigration attorney at Fragomen in Washington, said many affected applicants may have spent thousands of dollars and disrupted their lives in preparation for interviews that were cancelled at short notice.
The State Department has not announced when the cancelled appointments will be rescheduled.
The Trump administration has also introduced other measures affecting visa applicants, including reviews of social media activity and additional processing fees.
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