The State Department announced October 20, 2026, that it had revoked more than 300,000 visas since Donald Trump took office in January 2025. The total includes at least 4,000 cases tied to birth tourism, when pregnant foreign nationals travel to the United States specifically to give birth so their child automatically receives citizenship.
That is roughly 50,000 more revocations than the department disclosed three weeks earlier. The newest announcement puts the total at more than 300,000.
Spokesman Tommy Pigott said the administration had acted at a faster pace than any previous administration. He said the department would continue targeting visa holders who break laws, commit fraud or pose national-security concerns.
The nationalities behind the cumulative figure were not immediately clear.
Officials said the actions followed criminal activity, public-safety threats or immigration violations, including fraud and misrepresentation. The department has described the visa revocations as consequences for conduct it says violates the conditions or purposes of a visa.
Earlier announcements show how quickly the tally rose
The department’s earlier announcements provide two benchmarks for the increase:
| Announcement | Total visas revoked | Birth-tourism cases |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | More than 175,000 | Not specified |
| September 29–30, 2026 | More than 250,000 | 2,300 |
At the September milestone, an official said the affected visa holders had violated visa terms, committed crimes, called for violence against the United States or Americans, defrauded Americans, abused the immigration system or endangered national security.
Pigott called the earlier total a historic milestone and said the department was using continuous vetting to identify people who commit crimes, support terrorism, defraud Americans or misuse the immigration system. He said a visa is a privilege, not a right, and that violating its terms can result in losing it.
The August group largely involved people encountered by law enforcement. Assault, driving under the influence, theft and drug crimes led the listed offenses. Other cited grounds included reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud and embezzlement.
The department described several cases: one person faced charges of felony kidnapping, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of a minor. Another was arrested while driving with heroin and a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit. A third helped orchestrate a $5 million Medicaid scam.
Federal rules limit when consular officers can revoke visas
The Foreign Affairs Manual describes the framework under INA 221(i) (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)) and 22 CFR 41.122. It treats a visa as revoked when its holder is found ineligible, rather than maintaining a separate distinction between invalidation and revocation.
Consular officers may revoke a visa when it is unavailable, when the holder is ineligible for that visa category, when the visa has been physically removed from the passport in which it was issued, or when an IDENT Watchlist record reflects a qualifying driving offense.
Ineligibility can include a finding under INA 214(b). The watchlist basis covers an arrest or conviction for driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated or a similar offense within the previous five years.
Suspected ineligibility alone is not enough in most cases. Except for DUI-based revocations, officers cannot act on derogatory information that does not support an actual finding of ineligibility.
The rules also restrict revocations while a person is in the United States or has begun an uninterrupted journey there. A DUI-based revocation is an exception. Otherwise, the department’s Visa Office of Screening, Analysis, and Coordination, or CA/VO/SAC, is the office that may revoke a visa in those circumstances.
A proposed review would reach some asylum applicants
The administration began preparing over the summer to revoke B1 and B2 business and tourist visas issued between 2016 and 2026 to people who later applied for asylum. The effort could involve as many as 200,000 visa holders.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Americans were “fed up” with “bogus asylum claims.” He wrote on X that asylum should offer a narrow safe harbor to people persecuted because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, rather than serve as a way around immigration laws.
Landau also said frivolous claims had swamped the system. Deciding whether applicants qualify can take years, he said.
The department took a separate action on September 28, 2026, revoking visas held by 27 Latin American officials, former officials and family members over corruption accusations. The officials were from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Benedicta Agyemang, a U.S.-based immigration lawyer, described some limits on visitor visas to YEN.com.gh:
“B-2 visitors generally may not accept employment in the United States, engage in unauthorised business activities requiring a different visa category, or enrol in a full-time course of study without the appropriate student status”
