- A proclamation effective January 1, 2026, expanded full travel suspensions to 19 countries and imposed partial restrictions on 20 others.
- Since December 15, 2025, H-1B and H-4 applicants have faced mandatory online presence reviews of social media accounts.
- Consular delays have pushed some visa interviews into 2027; the proposed premium-processing extension remains under review, with current deadlines still in force.
(UNITED STATES) — President Donald Trump expanded U.S. travel restrictions to nationals of 19 countries and holders of Palestinian Authority documents in a proclamation that took effect January 1, 2026, while new online presence reviews and visa backlogs continue to delay applications into late 2026 and 2027.
A separate proposal under federal review could extend premium-processing deadlines for green card and H-1B cases. The existing deadlines, which range from 15 to 45 business days, remain in force while the proposal is evaluated.
The December 16, 2025 proclamation, titled “Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States,” modified Executive Order 14161 and Proclamation 10949. It expanded full travel suspensions from 12 countries to 19 and imposed partial restrictions on 20 others.
The full-suspension list includes Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, as well as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, Syria, Laos and Sierra Leone. The restrictions also cover people traveling with Palestinian Authority-issued documents.
Partial restrictions apply to immigrant and nonimmigrant B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J visas for Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela, along with Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The proclamation lifted restrictions on nonimmigrant visas for Turkmenistan nationals but kept the immigrant-entry suspension.
The suspensions apply to nationals of listed countries who are outside the United States and do not hold a valid visa stamp on or after January 1, 2026. Lawful permanent residents, dual citizens traveling on a passport from a non-restricted country, and certain athletes, diplomats and people whose entry serves U.S. national interests are exempt.
The proclamation removed a categorical exemption for immigrant visas for family members of people in the United States, while allowing case-by-case waivers. It governs entry at consular posts; a separate U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy memo governs adjudication of immigration applications inside the country.
USCIS issued a memo in early December 2025 directing the agency to place all asylum applications on hold, regardless of nationality, pending a comprehensive review. The hold also covers immigration applications from nationals of 19 countries named in the memo, “pending a comprehensive review, regardless of entry date.”
Those countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen. Attorneys at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna expect USCIS to extend holds to nationals of countries added in the December proclamation and say the agency may re-review previously approved benefits.
The memo followed a shooting in Washington, D.C., in which U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured. The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Lakanwal, had entered the United States through “Operation Allies Welcome.”
Consular Screening and Online Presence Reviews Expanded
Consular screening has also expanded. Since December 15, 2025, H-1B and H-4 applicants, including people seeking extensions, have faced mandatory online presence reviews covering social media accounts. The State Department directive also applies to F, M and J visa applicants, who must set profiles to “public” so officers can review them.
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X and TikTok are among the platforms that must be viewable to visa officers. Students and exchange visitors already faced similar scrutiny before the review was extended to nonimmigrant workers.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson in New Delhi confirmed the expansion on December 10, 2025, saying: “In every visa case, we will take the time necessary to ensure an applicant does not pose a risk to the safety and security of the United States and that he or she has credibly established his or her eligibility for the visa sought, including that the applicant intends to engage in activities consistent with the terms of admission”
The spokesperson added: “The Department of State regularly shifts appointments as needed to match resource availability. We will communicate any changes directly to affected visa applicants”
The State Department said: “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” adding that the United States “must be vigilant” and that a visa is “a privilege and not a right”
Interview Postponements and Backlogs
The screening rollout prompted consulates to postpone interviews. Some applicants scheduled for the following week received new dates as late as May 2026. People with December 15 appointments were rescheduled to March, while some with December 19 appointments received dates in late May.
One H-1B applicant in Chennai had an interview scheduled for December 18 canceled after biometrics and automatically rescheduled to April 30, 2026. The embassy warned that arriving on a canceled date “will result in your being denied admittance to the Embassy or Consulate”
At high-volume posts in India, expanded reviews cut daily appointment capacity by nearly 50%, while social media checks added roughly 30 minutes per case. H-1B and L-1 applicants have faced interview slots in late 2026 or 2027, and some cases have entered administrative processing that averages six weeks.
$100,000 H-1B Fee and Pending Litigation
A separate presidential proclamation imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, effective at 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2025. The fee applies to new petitions filed after that date, not current visa holders, renewals or extension petitions.
People with an approved H-1B petition, or with a petition filed before September 21, 2025, that remains pending, can enter without paying the fee. USCIS issued additional guidance on October 20, 2025.
On October 3, 2025, affected organizations and employers filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California, arguing that the fee exceeds executive authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The litigation remains pending, and the fee remains in place.
Interview-Location Rules and Appointment System Problems
The State Department also changed interview-location rules. Since September 6, 2025, applicants have been directed to schedule interviews in their country of nationality or residence, ending the flexibility many consulates had offered to third-country nationals.
Appointment systems have added their own complications. ATLAS requires one profile per passport, exact matching with the DS-160 application and allows one reschedule per fee; applicants with mismatched information can be denied entry to the consulate. AVITS requires payment before applicants can view dates, allows more rescheduling, and has been reported to freeze or produce permanent errors when users create duplicate profiles.
The system’s delays have prompted employers to build 12–16 week buffers into assignments, shift some work to Canada or Europe, and move teams to remote work while employees await consular appointments. Applicants have been advised to plan 12–16 months ahead for categories such as H-1B and student visas and to keep DS-160 information consistent with their scheduling profiles.
Premium processing remains available under its existing deadlines while federal officials review the proposal to extend them. The proposal concerns applicants paying for faster decisions on green card and H-1B cases; no new deadline has taken effect.
