The United States has suspended immigration visa interviews worldwide

The Trump administration has suspended, worldwide, the interviews required to obtain an immigration visa for the United States. The news was reported on Tuesday by the Financial Times and subsequently confirmed by a spokesperson for the State Department, who stated that a ‘global training initiative’ had been launched in early August across all US embassies and consulates, and that consular service appointments ‘will be adjusted’ to make way for this. People who already had an interview booked have received an email in recent days informing them of its cancellation: it will be rescheduled, but no date has been given.

The suspension applies to so-called immigrant visas – that is, visas leading to a green card and obtained from abroad via a consulate – primarily for family reunification and employment sponsored by a US employer. There is no indication, however, that temporary visas – those for tourism, study or fixed-term work – have been suspended. However, the consular interview is one of the final stages of the procedure, so in effect the suspension halts applications that have almost reached the end of the process.

The training covers the rules on ‘public charge’. Under US law, an applicant may be deemed inadmissible if officials consider that, once in the United States, they will end up relying on certain forms of public assistance. The assessment takes into account all the circumstances: age, health, family situation, financial resources, education and skills. It is a prediction, not a determination, and therefore leaves considerable room for discretion.

The decision comes five days after a federal ruling that had overturned a similar measure. In January, the State Department had suspended the issuance of immigration visas to nationals of 75 countries — including Afghanistan, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Haiti, Iran, Nigeria, Russia and Somalia — arguing that they posed a high risk of claiming benefits. On 21 August, Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled that the Department did not have the authority to do so: Congress had entrusted individual consular officers with the task of assessing each case on its merits, whilst Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s directive replaced that judgement with a predetermined outcome. However, the ruling did not call into question the ‘public charge’ rule itself. The State Department did not link the two issues. The practical effect, however, is that the objective rejected on general grounds is now being pursued by making the individual assessment stricter and more uniform: that is, using the method that the judge identified as the only legitimate one, and one that is much more difficult to challenge.

The suspension forms part of a wider crackdown on legal immigration. The State Department is considering revoking over 200,000 tourist or business visas (B1 and B2) issued between 2016 and 2026 to foreign nationals who subsequently applied for asylum: this would be the largest mass revocation of visas in American history. The Administration has also proposed a six-figure fee on new H-1B visas, those used for highly skilled workers ($103,265 per application).