{"id":8474,"date":"2026-01-14T14:56:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T20:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/14\/visa-processing-for-immigrants-from-75-nations-frozen-by-trump-administration\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T20:56:50","slug":"visa-processing-for-immigrants-from-75-nations-frozen-by-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/14\/visa-processing-for-immigrants-from-75-nations-frozen-by-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Visa processing for immigrants from 75 nations frozen by Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/statedepartment-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Exterior of the U.S. Department of State Harry S. Truman Building, in Washington, D.C., in May 2024. (Official State Department photo by Linda D. Epstein)\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Exterior of the U.S. Department of State Harry S. Truman Building, in Washington, D.C., in May 2024. (Official State Department photo by Linda D. Epstein)<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The State Department announced Wednesday it would suspend all visa processing for immigrants hailing from 75 countries because they are deemed likely to need governmental assistance in the United States, known as a \u201cpublic charge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The State Department did not answer States Newsroom\u2019s inquiry as to when the policy would take effect or a list of the 75 countries in question. The State Department,<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/StateDept\/status\/2011478657680757214?s=20\" target=\"_blank\"> in a social media post<\/a>, listed several that would be affected, including Somalia, Haiti, Iran and Eritrea.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates,\u201d the State Department wrote. \u201cThe freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It will take effect Jan. 21 and other countries affected include Afghanistan and Russia,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-immigration-visas-79909bd01e9e1e3dedde144f865a1b9d\" target=\"_blank\">according to The Associated Press.<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Department of Homeland Security in November published a notice for proposed rulemaking that\u00a0outlined major changes to how immigration officials assess whether certain immigrants are likely to become a public charge and if that constitutes grounds for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/IN11217\" target=\"_blank\">inadmissibility<\/a>, meaning a noncitizen would be ineligible for admission or adjustment of their immigration status.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">During President Donald Trump\u2019s first administration, he tried to broaden the definition of public charge to include any immigrant who had received certain public benefits for more than 12 months in a 36-month period. The move was tied up in the courts.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">One of the earliest federal immigration laws is an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pha.studentorg.berkeley.edu\/2020\/12\/29\/the-history-of-the-public-charge-and-public-health\/\" target=\"_blank\">1882<\/a> law that barred the immigration of people to the U.S. if they were likely to become a public charge. The Clinton administration in 1999 formally defined public charge as those who were dependent on cash assistance, such as food assistance.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exterior of the U.S. Department of State Harry S. Truman Building, in Washington, D.C., in May 2024. (Official State Department photo by Linda D. Epstein) WASHINGTON \u2014 The State Department announced Wednesday it would suspend all visa processing for immigrants hailing from 75 countries because they are deemed likely to need governmental assistance in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Visa processing for immigrants from 75 nations frozen by Trump administration - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/14\/visa-processing-for-immigrants-from-75-nations-frozen-by-trump-administration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visa processing for immigrants from 75 nations frozen by Trump administration - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Exterior of the U.S. Department of State Harry S. 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