State Department Pauses Immigrant Visa Appointments Worldwide for Staff Training

The U.S. State Department has directed embassies and consulates worldwide to pause immigrant visa appointments while consular officers complete training on newly expanded "public charge" screening requirements, according to The Washington Post, Fox News and The Hill. The pause, which began this week, affects family- and employment-based green card applicants going through processing outside the United States.

According to the reporting, the training is meant to help consular officers assess whether visa applicants are likely to become dependent on U.S. public benefits, and to apply that screening consistently across every post worldwide. Applicants with interviews already scheduled have reportedly received notices that their appointments were being postponed, without being given new dates. The State Department has not said how long the pause will last or when normal scheduling will resume.

The pause is the latest in a series of immigration policy actions from the Trump administration this year, which has also touted revoking more than 175,000 visas from people it says violated visa terms through criminal conduct. A separate, related policy suspending immigrant visa issuance for applicants from 75 countries was struck down by a federal judge on Friday, who ruled it exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statutory authority; that ruling is distinct from this week's worldwide training pause, and IF Daily has not independently confirmed how the two actions interact going forward.

Immigration attorneys quoted across multiple outlets said the abrupt, undated pause has left thousands of applicants and their U.S.-based family members in limbo, with no clear timeline for when interviews will resume.