Court Reopens Visas For 75 Countries; State Department Pauses The World

WASHINGTON—Days after a federal judge struck down a policy suspending immigrant visas for people from 75 countries, the State Department paused immigrant visa processing worldwide so consular officers could receive new public-charge training.

The global pause began in August and is expected to end in early or mid-September, according to an official who spoke with The Associated Press. Interviews have been postponed rather than canceled. Family applicants, including spouses, parents, children and siblings, are among those waiting while the department teaches officers to decide who might someday depend on public benefits.

The department says the training will produce comprehensive and consistent reviews. That goal arrived just after a court found the earlier nationality-based version unlawful. The solution to a 75-country policy was therefore not a narrower pause but one with enough geographic consistency to include every country.

The halt concerns immigrant visas for permanent residence and does not cover most temporary work, student or tourist visas. It is also separate from the department’s new procedure allowing some applicants to post public-charge bonds. Legal immigration remains open in the technical sense that the doors are being recalibrated.

Applicants from the original 75 countries were told they could return to ordinary individual review. They can, once individual review resumes. The administration has preserved both principles by replacing a court-defeated nationality rule with a temporary period in which nationality no longer matters because nobody gets an appointment.