Trump suspends immigrant visas for 75 countries: Who’s affected?

EXPLAINERThe suspension will take effect on January 21 but does not apply to visitors or short-term visa holders.US President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters [Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]Published On 15 Jan 2026United States authorities have said they will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries.The suspension will take effect on January 21 and will affect applicants from Latin America and the Caribbean, the Balkans, and several countries in South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.Recommended Stories list of 1 itemlist 1 of 1Trump administration to suspend immigrant visa processing for 75 countriesend of listThe change only affects people who want to move to the US permanently. It does not apply to visitors or short-term visa holders. But the latest move comes five months before the US hosts the FIFA World Cup along with Canada and Mexico, at a time when a series of crackdowns on immigrants, refugees, foreign students and visa applicants have raised questions about its attitude towards visitors.Here is what we know about the latest crackdown:The State Department said it had told US consulates to stop processing immigrant visa applications from the affected countries. The move follows a broader order issued in November that tightened checks on potential immigrants who could become a financial burden on the US.“The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of America’s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,” the department said in a statement.“Immigrant visa processing from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”How does it work?According to the State Department, nationals of the affected countries may still submit immigrant visa applications, but no immigrant visas will be approved or issued while the pause is in place. The US government has not indicated any deadline for when the suspension might be lifted.An exception applies to dual nationals who apply using a valid passport from a country not included in the suspension.The suspension will not apply to non-immigrant, temporary, tourist, or business visas.Which countries are affected?The list of 75 countries includes:What other steps has Trump taken to restrict immigration?In recent months, the Trump administration has tightened immigration rules, particularly for people from countries whose vetting processes it has said are not robust enough, or that it believes are potential national security risks. The State Department has expanded limits on migration from these nations.In a statement released in January 2025, the White House said the US could not accept large numbers of migrants, especially refugees, without putting pressure on public resources, creating security concerns, or making it harder for newcomers to integrate.In June, the administration went further by imposing a full travel ban on citizens from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.By October, the White House announced the lowest refugee admissions cap in US history, setting a limit of just 7,500 refugees for the 2026 fiscal year – mostly to be used for white Afrikaners from South Africa. Trump has amplified debunked conspiracy theories alleging a genocide against white South Africans, though data shows that violent crime is high in the country, with victims across races.At the same time, the Trump administration has cut foreign aid programmes that support refugees living in other countries.The administration has also moved to limit skilled immigration, saying the aim is to protect jobs for US citizens. In September, it sharply increased the fee for H-1B visas – used by US companies to hire foreign workers – raising the cost to $100,000 per application.Following the arrest of an Afghan national linked to the November shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, the government introduced additional travel restrictions. The ban list was expanded to include six more countries, beyond the 12 countries whose citizens were previously banned. The six new additions were Palestine, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.Immigration officials also paused asylum cases and stopped processing citizenship and green card applications for people from the countries first affected by the bans.It has.By early December, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security said it had deported more than 605,000 people, while another 1.9 million people had “self-deported”.As a result, the US had net negative immigration – more immigrants left the country than those who entered – in 2025, the first time in 50 years that this has happened, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution. The researchers at Brookings estimated that the net loss of immigrants last year was between 10,000 and 295,000 people.