Overview
- The State Department began a global training initiative for consular officers in early August and has adjusted immigrant visa appointments this week to focus on screening whether applicants might become a 'public charge'.
- Posts and consulates from Seoul to Hong Kong to Ciudad Juárez have canceled or rescheduled immigrant visa interviews, while most nonimmigrant visa processing has continued at many missions.
- Affected applicants report few firm rescheduling dates, creating sudden disruptions for people who have completed years of processing or made travel and study plans.
- The pause comes amid other administration moves to tighten legal immigration, including large-scale visa revocations and proposed fee and information changes, and courts have already blocked at least one related policy.
- Advocates and lawyers say the interruption will create backlogs and likely spur litigation, and the State Department has not published a detailed training schedule or timeline for normal immigrant-visa processing to resume.