The American government is observing a temporary pause worldwide in appointments to obtain a visa to emigrate to the United States, while consular agents are trained, the State Department announced on Wednesday, August 26.
These meetings, which essentially consist of an interview between a foreign national applying for a visa and a consular agent, will be “adjusted” to allow this training, a spokesperson for the State Department indicated in an email to AFP, confirming information from the American press.
This exceptional measure applies to all American embassies and consulates around the world. It does not apply to tourist, student, business or temporary work visas in the United States. It was not specified when these meetings could resume, but a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity spoke of a pause of “several weeks” according to the embassies.
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The training, initiated at the beginning of the month but which began this week, aims in particular to ensure that “visa applicants are not at risk of becoming a burden on the State”, according to the State Department. Since the beginning of the year, he has been working to update the directives and training relating to the concept of “public charge”.
The fight against illegal immigration, a priority for Donald Trump
Foreign nationals applying for visas must be informed of changes in appointments with consular agents which may be rescheduled, the same source added.
Donald Trump has made the fight against illegal immigration a priority, massively deporting illegal immigrants, but also widely restricting, sometimes draconianly, the legal entry of foreign nationals, and severely repressing foreigners who overstay their stay in the United States. Several of its flagship measures have, however, been overturned by the courts.
On Tuesday, the US government indicated that it was prepared to revoke the business and tourist visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who had applied for asylum in the United States, which would be, according to the White House, “the largest visa revocation in the history” of the country.
At the beginning of August, the State Department announced that since Donald Trump’s return to power in January 2025, some 175,000 foreigners in the United States had had their visas revoked for reasons as varied as criminal activities, violations of the law such as driving under the influence or even for having “celebrated” the assassination of conservative Charlie Kirk.
However, an American federal judge declared illegal last Friday the freezing, decreed in January for 75 countries, of visa procedures allowing permanent residence in the United States.
With AFP
