Washington (Web Desk): The Trump administration has announced that it will temporarily stop processing immigrant visa applications from Pakistan and 74 other countries, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by a US State Department spokesperson, marking another major step in Washington’s tougher stance on immigration.
The suspension will take effect on January 21 and will affect a wide group of countries across several regions.
Along with Pakistan, the list includes South Asian nations such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Several Latin American states, including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay, are also part of the move, as are Balkan countries like Bosnia and Albania, along with numerous nations from Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
In a message posted on social media, the State Department said it is halting immigrant visa services for 75 countries whose citizens, it claims, draw welfare benefits from the United States at rates it considers unacceptable.
The department added that the pause will continue until authorities are confident that new immigrants will not become a financial burden on American taxpayers, saying the goal is to prevent misuse of public resources.
The restriction applies only to immigrant visas meant for people who plan to settle permanently in the United States. It does not affect temporary visas issued to tourists, students, short-term workers or visitors coming for events such as the FIFA World Cup.
The decision comes as the Trump administration has sharply intensified immigration enforcement. The State Department said last week that more than 100,000 visas have been cancelled since Trump returned to the presidency. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security reported that over 605,000 people were deported last month, while another 2.5 million left the country on their own.
This new pause follows a series of earlier steps taken in December, including the expansion of travel bans to 39 countries, the suspension of asylum processing and a freeze on citizenship and green card applications for people from countries already facing restrictions.
At the same time, research has challenged the administration’s claims about immigrants’ use of welfare. In February 2025, a study by the libertarian Cato Institute found that US-born citizens, on average, received more welfare and entitlement benefits than immigrants. The report showed that immigrants used 21 per cent fewer such benefits per person than native-born Americans in 2022.
Migration experts have cautioned that the latest visa suspension could produce wide-ranging consequences that extend well beyond those directly denied visas.
During his first term, Trump had stated that he supports legal immigration, telling Congress in a State of the Union address that immigrants “enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways”, while also stressing that he wanted people to come to the United States in large numbers as long as they do so through legal channels.