USA pauses visa appointments for applicants around the world

The Trump administration has suspended immigrant visa appointments at United States embassies and consulates around the world, in a move the State Department says is aimed at retraining consular officers to apply visa screening rules more consistently.

The State Department cited an “in-depth training” programme as the reason for the pause, saying the exercise was designed to ensure officers uniformly implement screening criteria — including evaluating whether visa applicants could potentially become dependent on US public benefits, a standard known as the “public charge” rule.

The suspension affects immigrant visa appointments globally and has left thousands of applicants facing delays of uncertain duration. No timeline for the resumption of normal appointment scheduling has been publicly announced.

The pause adds another layer of disruption to an already strained US immigration system, coming amid a broader Trump administration crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration that has included visa bond requirements, suspended student visas and tightened entry rules for nationals of multiple countries including Nigeria.

According to the Financial Times, scheduled interviews are being rescheduled with no clear restart date.

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