U.S. Mission: Visa Rules, Presidential Proclamations 10998, Visa Suspensions Are Temporary

(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. Mission said Visa rules are not permanent and remain subject to ongoing review under 2026 policies that took effect on January 1, 2026, and January 21, 2026.

Those measures span Presidential Proclamations 10998 and 10949, USCIS adjudicative holds, and State Department pauses. Together, they impose full or partial visa suspensions, require re-reviews of prior approvals, and reopen public charge screening as the government conducts security, vetting, and financial self-sufficiency evaluations.

Presidential Proclamation 10998 suspends entry and visa issuance for nationals outside the United States who do not hold valid visas issued before the January 1, 2026 cutoff. The proclamation divides affected countries into full and partial suspension categories.

The administration described the steps as temporary and tied them to national security, public safety, and public charge risks. Even so, the measures carry no stated end dates and now shape how consular officers, border officials and immigration adjudicators handle cases from dozens of countries.

Full and Partial Suspensions Under Proclamation 10998

Under the January 1, 2026 rules, full suspension applies to 19 countries and covers both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. Those countries are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

The same full suspension also applies to Palestinian Authority travel documents. For people in those categories, the restrictions reach across the broadest range of visa issuance and entry decisions described in the policy.

A separate list of 20 countries falls under partial suspension. In those cases, the measures cover immigrant visas as well as B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas, while other visas face reduced validity.

The countries under partial suspension are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Turkmenistan is listed as immigrant only.

The cutoff date matters. No visas issued before January 1, 2026, 12:01 a.m. EST, are revoked.

That protection for previously issued visas marks one of the clearest limits in Proclamation 10998. At the same time, the measure removes some exceptions that had existed under earlier rules.

Exceptions from prior Proclamation 10949, including immediate family IR/CR visas, adoptions, Afghan SIVs, and asylum/CAT, are eliminated. That change narrows avenues that had remained open for some applicants under the previous framework.

State Department Immigrant Visa Pause

Alongside those visa suspensions, the State Department launched a separate immigrant visa pause that began on January 21, 2026. The department indefinitely paused immigrant visa issuance for 75 countries while continuing processing and interviews for other cases.

That pause centers on a public charge policy review. The policy targets “high-risk” nationalities for welfare usage and follows President Trump’s directive on financial self-sufficiency, which prompted a full reassessment of screening.

Nonimmigrant visas are unaffected by that January 21 immigrant visa pause. Still, those cases face heightened scrutiny.

The list of affected countries in that separate immigrant visa action includes Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, and Cambodia. The full list extends beyond those countries.

The January 21 action operates alongside, not instead of, the January 1 measures. That means some nationals may face overlapping restrictions from visa suspensions, immigrant visa pauses, and separate case reviews.

USCIS Hold and Review System

USCIS also imposed what the policy describes as a “Hold and Review” system effective January 1, 2026. The agency placed an adjudicative hold on all pending immigration benefits for nationals born in 39 travel ban countries.

That hold reaches a wide set of petitions and applications. It includes H-1B, L-1, and O-1 petitions, Form I-485 green card cases, Form I-765 employment authorization documents, Form I-131 travel documents, Form N-400 naturalization applications, Form I-751 removal of conditions filings, and status changes or extensions.

The hold does not stop at pending filings. USCIS also ordered a re-review of approvals issued since January 20, 2021.

That re-review can bring interviews, document requests, and reconsideration of cases already approved. The policy also says pre-2021 entries may face review.

USCIS must prioritize lists and issue guidance within 90 days. Until that guidance arrives, the hold leaves employers, workers, students and families facing delays in categories that usually move through separate adjudication tracks.

Expanded Vetting Beyond Visa Suspensions

The broader 2026 approach also adds new vetting layers outside formal visa suspensions. On December 3, 2025, the State Department announced expanded social media review for H-1B and H-4 applicants, with identifiers public.

CBP separately proposed a multi-year social media review for ESTA travelers under the Visa Waiver program. That proposal was not yet effective on December 10, 2025.

Border screening has expanded as well. Biometric screening now covers noncitizens including lawful permanent residents and H-1B holders, a shift that the policy says could cause delays after status changes.

Taken together, those moves show how the 2026 review reaches far beyond first-time visa applications. It now touches entry at the border, nonimmigrant employment cases, immigrant visa processing, status extensions, travel documents, and even previously approved benefits.

Temporary Pauses, No Fixed End Dates

The administration has framed each of those steps as a pause, hold, or reassessment rather than a permanent rewrite. The terms used by DOS and USCIS are “indefinite pauses,” “holds,” and “reassessments.”

That language matters because it signals continuing review rather than a fixed end point. At the same time, the lack of end dates means affected applicants and employers have little certainty about when normal processing may resume.

For travelers who already hold visas issued before the cutoff, one rule remains unchanged across the policy set: those visas generally remain valid if they were issued before January 1, 2026, 12:01 a.m. EST. The government did not revoke those previously issued visas under Proclamation 10998.

For people outside the country without qualifying pre-cutoff visas, the picture is far tighter. Entry and issuance are now tied to nationality, visa class, prior approval date, and whether a case falls into a full suspension, a partial suspension, or the separate immigrant visa pause.

The overlap can be especially acute for employment-based cases. A worker may avoid revocation of an earlier visa yet still face adjudicative delays if USCIS places a related extension, change of status, or green card filing on hold.

Employers now face that operational pressure across several categories named in the policy. H-1B, L-1 and O-1 cases appear directly on the USCIS hold list, while social media review and expanded biometrics add further screening points.

Students and exchange visitors also sit inside the January 1 restrictions for some countries. In the partial suspension group, F, M, and J visas are explicitly included, while nationals in the full suspension category face broader visa issuance blocks.

Families seeking immigrant visas face another layer after January 21. Even where interviews and processing continue for some cases, the State Department’s indefinite pause on immigrant visa issuance leaves final outcomes tied to the public charge review.

The policy links that review to financial self-sufficiency. President Trump directed that standard, and the administration’s reassessment now places welfare usage risk at the center of immigrant visa screening for the 75-country group.

Officials have also made clear that these 2026 measures stand as part of ongoing review rather than a one-time action. The policies are explicitly described as temporary pending further security, vetting, and financial self-sufficiency evaluations.

For nationals from the affected countries, that means the rules can change again. The central message from the U.S. Mission is that Visa rules are not permanent, and the government can revisit them through proclamations, agency holds and consular pauses.

The reach of Presidential Proclamations 10998 and 10949 therefore extends beyond consular windows. They now influence USCIS case processing, border screening, nonimmigrant travel, immigrant visa issuance, and the treatment of prior exceptions that once offered relief.

Travelers from affected countries have been told to verify status and build travel buffers. Employers have been warned to expect delays.

Those practical effects follow from a policy structure built around review rather than resolution. With visa suspensions in place, immigrant issuance paused for 75 countries, and all pending benefits on hold for nationals born in 39 travel ban countries, the government has recast 2026 immigration processing as a system of continuing reassessment.