{"id":527,"date":"2026-01-15T08:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1newsnetwork.com\/?p=527"},"modified":"2026-02-03T08:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T08:33:32","slug":"us-to-pause-immigrant-visa-processing-for-75-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/us-to-pause-immigrant-visa-processing-for-75-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"US to pause immigrant visa processing for 75 countries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Pause impacts dozens of countries \u2013 including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea, says State Department <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<p>By Rabia Iclal Turan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WASHINGTON (AA) &#8211; The US is pausing immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, the State Department said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The freeze will remain active until the United States can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,&#8221; the department said in a statement posted on US social media company X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The pause impacts dozens of countries \u2013 including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea \u2013 whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hidnetwork.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AA-20260115-40260209-40260208-US_SET_TO_PAUSE_IMMIGRANT_VISA_PROCESSING_FOR_75_COUNTRIES-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-688\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Fox News Digital first reported the move, citing an internal State Department memo, which &#8220;directs consular officers to refuse visas under existing law while the department reassesses screening and vetting procedures.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pause applies to immigrant visa processing for nationals from countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Brazil, Egypt, Russia, Iran, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, and Haiti, among others, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It added that the pause could begin as early as January 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The move follows President Donald Trump\u2019s remarks in November, calling for a pause on immigration from \u201call Third World Countries\u201d to allow the US system to \u201cfully recover\u201d after two National Guard members were shot and an Afghan national was named a suspect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em>Pause impacts dozens of countries \u2013 including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea, says State Department<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[47,23,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-ice","9":"tag-trump","10":"tag-united-states"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":529,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}