Trump pauses immigrant visas worldwide for stricter public charge checks

Washington,UPDATED: Aug 26, 2026 11:54 IST

The Trump administration has paused immigrant visa applications worldwide as the US State Department moves to tighten restrictions on people it believes may become dependent on US "public benefits", according to a Financial Times report. The department is training consular officers to assess such cases more closely as part of the new process.

The pause has led to scheduled immigrant visa interviews at US embassies and consulates being rescheduled, with applicants told they will be informed later of a new date and time, the report said. The move comes as the administration continues a wider crackdown on immigration and a tightening of green card rules.

According to the Financial Times, the training is aimed at helping consular officers identify people who may fall under the definition of "public charge". In US immigration law, a public charge is a person considered likely to become primarily dependent on the government for financial support. State Department officials told the newspaper that the training would help officers evaluate applications "comprehensively and consistently".

A State Department spokesperson told the Financial Times, "A more prosperous America means ensuring that visa applicants are not likely to become a public charge, as defined under US law and regulation, and not likely to become dependent on US public benefits reserved for qualified Americans in need." The spokesperson added that the department launched a "global training initiative" in August to "ensure all consular officers are fully equipped to evaluate every visa applicant comprehensively and consistently".

The latest pause comes a day after the Trump administration proposed a new USD 103,265 application fee for the H-1B visa. The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to hire foreign workers in specialised jobs that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies rely on it to hire tens of thousands of workers each year from countries such as India and China.

Since returning to office in 2025, US President Donald Trump has pursued an aggressive crackdown on immigrants in the country. The current pause follows an earlier attempt by Trump to block applications on a similar "public charge" basis, including applications from 75 countries selected by the administration, among them Brazil, Colombia and Russia.

In January, the State Department paused the issuance of immigrant visas from almost 40 per cent of the world's nations, saying the move would stop the entry of people who would "take welfare and public benefits". Under the law, an immigrant can be denied entry as a likely public charge only after a consular officer considers that person's finances, age, health, skills and family situation. However, CNN reported that a federal judge struck down that move on Friday, ruling that it was "contrary to law" and outside the statutory authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In effect, the administration has now halted immigrant visa processing worldwide while it retrains consular officers to apply the public charge test more strictly, even as its earlier effort on similar grounds faces a legal setback.

With PTI Inputs

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