Hello everyone, attorney Joshua Mikrut from New Liberty Law here. Welcome back to your Liberty Minute.
This week I want to talk about the so-called visa pause announced by the Trump administration, what it actually does, and who it really affects. We’re going to get into it.
So point number one, what the visa pause is. The administration announced a temporary pause on issuing certain immigrant visas for people from a list of specific countries. It’s like 20-some countries.
Now, this does not mean visas are being taken away. It means new immigrant visas are not being issued right now. They’re not being approved at U.S. embassies or consulates for people from those countries.
Point number two, who does this pause apply to?
This pause only applies to immigrant visas being processed outside the United States at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. If you’re already inside the U.S. and applying for a green card through USCIS, this policy does not apply to you.
Point number three, this visa pause only affects certain countries. As I mentioned a moment ago, the pause only applies to nationals of people on this list, and we’ll try to link the list in the description below.
Importantly, and this is very important, Mexico is not included. Even though the United States consulate in Ciudad Juárez processes more immigrant visas than any other embassy in the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere.
Point number four, this policy may not last very long. There’s already legal challenges mounting to this. There’s a strong possibility that the visa pause will be challenged in court and struck down as illegal.
These kinds of sweeping immigration actions usually require the government to follow very specific legal procedures, and lawsuits are already challenging whether that happened here. And the Trump administration has gotten into trouble in the past for not following the rules when it tries to change policies on a broad scale like it’s trying to do here.
Point number five, and finally, what should families do right now?
If your case involves consular processing at an embassy or a U.S. consulate in one of these countries, you may experience delays. But this is likely not permanent.
For example, they’re still doing interviews. They’re still listening to people’s arguments. They’re still looking at all of your evidence. They’re just not going to make a decision.
So anyone who has an application pending right now, that application won’t likely be denied. You could even have an interview, but they just won’t approve it. It’s just going to sit in a gray zone for a long time, probably.
Immigration policy can change quickly through the courts. So this is a moment to stay informed and get legal advice before assuming your case is over.
I’m Joshua Mikrut with New Liberty Law, helping you to stay informed and in status. And as you all know, liberty is a work in progress. Our work.