The State Department is indefinitely halting the processing of immigrant visa applications for people from 75 countries in another escalation of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy. The department, which announced the move on X on Wednesday, cast it as part of an effort to bar people who would require public assistance from coming to the U.S.
“The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the department said, adding in another post that “the pause impacts dozens of countries – including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea – whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival. We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused.”
The department has not publicly identified all 75 of the countries, but a memo first obtained by Fox News included the full list.
In addition to the four named by the State Department in its announcement, the countries reportedly include Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
The suspension will begin on Jan. 21. It will not apply to tourist, business, or non-immigrant visa applications.
In instructions sent to consular officers in November, the State Department advised them to deny visas for applicants who were deemed likely to rely on public benefits based on their health, age, economic situation, language abilities, and other factors.
The moves have come as part of the Trump Administration’s wider efforts to restrict legal immigration into the U.S. alongside its aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration. Those efforts intensified in the wake of an Afghan national being arrested as the suspected gunman in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., in November, with the Administration pausing asylum decisions, launching a “reexamination” of green cards issued to people from a number of countries, and expanding a travel ban to include citizens from 39 countries, among other restrictions.
A number of the countries impacted by the department’s most recent visa suspension were already a part of the Administration’s travel ban.