RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The United States temporarily suspended visa processing worldwide Tuesday, and green card applicants already facing lengthy backlogs now face more uncertainty about their application status.
The Department of State, which processes immigration applications abroad, paused all visa processing to train embassy and consular staff on new public charge rules , which cou ld deny applications if an individual appears likely to rely on government benefits.
The latest action also arrives after a series of Trump administration measures that have slowed or paused different parts of the legal immigration system, including green card processing for some refugees, asylum seekers and nationals of countries targeted by travel restrictions .
"I don’t know if the timing is coincidental or deliberate, but this 'pause' that involves the cancellation of immigrant visa interviews worldwide, comes at a critical moment," Elissa Taub, a partner at Siskind Susser in Memphis, Tennessee, told Newsweek .
"First, we are approaching the end of the government’s fiscal year, and instead of focusing on issuing all available immigrant visas by September 30, the government mass canceled interviews with no promise or hint as to when processing of those cases will resume. If the government does not use all the available visas, they go to waste, which would be awful for the many people waiting patiently for years for their chance to immigrate to the U.S."
Newsweek reached out to the State Department via its contact form Wednesday morning.
The newest pause primarily affects people pursuing permanent residence from outside the U.S. through a process known as consular processing.
Many of these applicants have already secured approval of an underlying immigrant petition and completed extensive paperwork through the National Visa Center. The embassy interview is typically one of the final hurdles before an immigrant visa can be issued and the applicant can travel to the United States as a lawful permanent resident.
For those individuals, canceled or postponed interviews can mean months of additional uncertainty after years of waiting in family- or employment-based visa backlogs. Applicants with scheduled interviews have already begun receiving notices that their appointments were canceled or delayed.
Taub said that while the new public charge assessment appeared to be linked to the pause, the State Department had not officially adopted the policy.
"That begs the question as to what new rules or standards they are teaching their consular officers to apply," she said. "It is frustrating that the State Department is making rules in secret with no public notice or advice and expecting people to comply with the secret rules or risk denial of applications that might have been pending for years. It would be helpful for the agency to communicate any new expectations with the public so that individuals who might have been waiting years for their application to be considered can be fully prepared."
Two major routes to obtaining a green card exist, and one group is largely unaffected by the State Department pause.
The first is Adjustment of Status, a process used by people already inside the U.S. These applicants file Form I-485 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), rather than the State Department, and typically remain in the country while their application is reviewed.
This pathway is commonly used by spouses of U.S. citizens, certain employment-based applicants and some refugees and asylum recipients who become eligible for permanent residence.
The second is Consular Processing, which is used by applicants living abroad. After an immigrant petition is approved, the case moves through the National Visa Center before an interview is scheduled at a U.S. embassy or consulate.
If approved, the applicant receives an immigrant visa, travels to the United States and then becomes a lawful permanent resident.
The latest State Department pause is largely affecting applicants in this second category because it targets immigrant visa interviews at overseas diplomatic posts.
Earlier in 2025, the administration temporarily halted the processing of some green card applications filed by refugees and asylum seekers already living in the United States. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said the move was meant to allow additional screening and vetting. Critics argued it would worsen already lengthy waits for applicants who had previously undergone extensive background checks.
The administration also paused or reviewed green card and citizenship applications involving nationals from a group of countries later included in travel-related restrictions. Immigration attorneys reported canceled interviews and delayed adjudications for applicants who had often waited years for their cases to advance through the system.
In January 2026, the State Department announced a pause on immigrant visa issuances for nationals of dozens of countries while it reviewed screening procedures related to public-benefits concerns, further affecting overseas applicants pursuing permanent residence.
Taken together, the measures have touched multiple stages of the legal immigration system, affecting applicants both inside and outside the country.
The U.S. does not publish a single global count showing how many immigrant visa applicants are waiting for interviews at every embassy and consulate. However, State Department scheduling data and National Visa Center records have long shown significant variation between posts , with some high-volume locations facing far longer interview queues than others.
Backlogs have historically been concentrated at some of the world's busiest immigrant visa processing centers, including posts serving applicants from Mexico, India, th...
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