Trump Administration Visa Processing Pause Leaves Hundreds of Thousands in Limbo

The lives of hundreds of thousands of people were thrown into limbo after the Trump administration hit pause on reviewing their visa, green card, work permit and citizenship applications.

The pause is targeted at those born in one of 39 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar and Venezuela. The U.S. imposed travel restrictions on most of those countries after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen on a Washington, D.C. street in late November.

Five months in, and the impact has been catastrophic for many people from those countries already living in the U.S., whether they're going to school or working in lucrative labor sectors like oil and gas, technology and medicine. NPR spoke with more than a dozen people on condition of anonymity, because they all fear adverse consequences for their immigration applications if they speak publicly.

Their experiences mirror each other: sudden financial insecurity, months of unemployment, academic and professional opportunities lost — and a crippling anxiety over the abrupt inability to live or work legally in the U.S.

The pause is just one part of a larger effort by the administration to restrict legal forms of migration and boost mass deportation of immigrants.

"It hit really hard because I was actually in line for a promotion in July," said A, who leads a cancer clinical research team in Ohio and is from Myanmar. She has been in the U.S. since 2016. Her work authorization, which has been renewed before, is now paused by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). "It's very disappointing to know that something I've been working really hard towards for the last few years is now going to be out of reach just because of where I was born."

The pause is also hurting some U.S. citizens who want to get legal status for their immigrant spouses — and the Americans who rely on foreign-born workers in dozens of key industries, from health care to cybersecurity. For example, in the U.S., both naturalized and noncitizen foreign-born workers work in STEM fields at slightly higher rates than U.S.-born workers, according to the latest data from the National Science Foundation.

The Trump administration says the pause is necessary while officials update the policies and procedures for reviewing these applications.

Loss of opportunity is a common theme. M, who lives in Virginia and is from Nigeria, first came to the U.S. in 2011 for her undergraduate and master's degrees. She then pursued her medical degree and last month got into, or matched, with a surgery residency program in Oregon. But because of the hold, her visas and work permit processing are frozen. That means she may not be able to start her residency at all.

"I cried so much the day after my match, because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I worked so hard to get to this point. And I look around me and all my classmates are celebrating because they are celebrating with certainty," M said.

Some immigrants said they paid up to $3,000 for what the USCIS calls premium processing, meaning their renewals and transfers should be decided in a matter of weeks, not months. No matter the payment, everyone from the list of travel ban countries have been left waiting.

"I really cannot move on with my life. And I really cannot contribute to the United States because I am from Nigeria," said P, who lives in Texas. He came to the U.S. in 2023 and graduated with an engineering masters degree in December. He said he had to turn down multiple job offers because his work permit cannot be processed.

Although originally labeled by officials as a temporary pause, some holds have already been dubbed "bans" in court. For example, as a part of documents filed in a lawsuit challenging the pause, lawyers submitted a statement from then-USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser that said optional practical training applications are banned specifically for Iranians and will not be processed.

The pause on processing applications means that those awaiting a decision could see their legal status lapse entirely — making them susceptible to immigration detention and deportation.

"There's no refund. It's a scam. It's a fraud," David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said about the premium processing. He estimates that the federal government has received over $1 billion in fees paid for these premium applications to be processed.

While campaigning in 2024, President Trump told Silicon Valley investors that he supported legalizing foreign-born students. "What I will do is — you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he said on the "All-In Podcast." Those promises fell by the wayside after Trump returned to the White House.

The White House did not directly respond to the question about the change, but said the Trump administration's efforts on visas, including a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, is meant to end abuses in the program and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor.

Meanwhile, DHS argues that the pauses in place for people from travel banned nations are necessary. "USCIS has paused adjudications for aliens from President Trump's designated high-risk countries while we work to ensure they are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible," a Homeland Security spokesperson said.

There are at least 33 lawsuits challenging the pauses. Zachary New, an immigration attorney in Colorado, estimates about half of all immigration applications currently at USCIS are impacted by these travel ban-linked pauses.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Northern California issued a preliminary injunction mandating that USCIS issue a decision by May 18 on applications from 31 citizens of Iran and one citizen of Sudan who are waiting on work authorizations. In that order, Judge Susan van Keulen said government lawyers confirmed the USCIS has a duty to issue a timely decision on an application — and also that the holds are indefinite, two contradictory arguments.