On Friday, August 21, a federal judge struck down the immigrant visa processing pause that was originally announced on January 14, 2026. The stated purpose of the pause was to allow the agency to reassess procedures for determining whether applicants are likely to become financially dependent on the U.S. government.
The State Department must now resume immigrant visa issuance for nationals of the affected countries and must reconsider immigrant visa applications that were denied or refused solely on the basis of the pause. The countries that were affected by the pause are listed in the State Department announcement.
The pause applied only to immigrant visa stickers. There is no change to non-immigrant visa applicants (F, J, H-1B, TN status for example) since the pause did not affect those applicants.
We will continue to monitor developments and will update this announcement as needed.