U.S. Freezes Visa Processing for 75 Countries Under Expanded Screening Review

The U.S. State Department has ordered an indefinite suspension of visa processing—both immigrant and non-immigrant—for citizens of 75 countries, effective January 21, per internal dept. memo

Unexpected Countries at the Forefront

Among the most striking inclusions are Egypt and Brazil, alongside Russia, Iran, and Somalia.
Several affected states are major regional powers or emerging economies, rather than countries typically subject to blanket visa freezes.

Notably, the list includes BRICS members and closely aligned partner countries, raising attention to the bloc’s growing footprint across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Eurasia.

What Is Being Paused

• All visa categories are affected, including tourist, student, work, and immigrant visas.

• The suspension is open-ended, with no public timeline for resumption.

• Exceptions are expected to be rare, granted only after heightened review.

In practical terms, this places entire national populations into a holding pattern while standards are rewritten.

Legal Basis and Screening Criteria

The directive relies on the long-standing “public charge” provision of U.S. immigration law, which permits consular officers to deny visas to applicants deemed likely to rely on public assistance.

Guidance circulated globally in November 2025 instructs officers to apply stricter screening based on:

• Health and anticipated medical needs

• Age

• English-language proficiency

• Financial resources and employment prospects

• Prior receipt of government cash assistance or institutional care

Applicants assessed as higher risk under these factors are to be denied visas during the review period.

Overlapping Restriction Regimes

While formally framed as an administrative review, the suspension operates alongside existing travel-ban and security-based restrictions already affecting dozens of countries. Rather than replacing those measures, the new pause expands and consolidates them, merging economic-based admissibility screening with nationality-based controls.

The result is a near-total visa freeze for a significantly larger set of countries than previously covered by security bans alone.

Geopolitical Pattern, Not a Stated Motive

The State Department has not cited geopolitical alignment as a rationale. However, the composition of the list introduces an observable pattern: multiple BRICS members and partner states are simultaneously affected, including economies with expanding political and financial ties outside U.S.-led institutions.

This alignment places the action beyond a purely technical adjustment, positioning it as a structural constraint on mobility for countries increasingly central to alternative global blocs.

Scale and Significance

The affected countries span Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, encompassing large populations, major student and business travel flows, and long-standing diplomatic relationships with the United States.

What Comes Next

No end date has been announced. Until revised standards are finalized, nationals of 75 countries remain effectively shut out of the U.S. visa system—marking one of the most expansive and consequential pauses in U.S. travel and immigration processing in decades.

The full list of countries

The full list comprises of Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen