The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced plans to revoke non-immigrant visas for foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the United States, potentially marking the largest single mass revocation in history. The US Department of State will revoke B-1 and B-2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 for holders who have previously sought asylum or are now seeking asylum. The B-1 and B-2 visas are typically used for business and tourism travel, allowing individuals to work, reside, and conduct business within the US.
The measure is part of Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, intensified during his second term as president, and has included visa and green card revocations, aggressive deportation drives targeting migrant communities, and a crackdown on border security, including military-style raids by federal agencies like ICE. During a series of raids in Minneapolis in January 2025, protesters were killed by agents. The Trump administration has also taken steps to limit the number of people entitled to ‘birthright citizenship,’ a constitutionally protected right that grants automatic US citizenship to babies born in the country.
On Monday, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott stated that the measure targeted ‘foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently’. Pigott did not specify the exact number of visas affected, but estimates suggest up to 200,000 individuals could be impacted. The move is linked to a broader strategy of tightening restrictions on visa applicants, suspending new visas to citizens of 75 countries, and targeting individuals who have engaged in alleged criminal activity, visa violations, or calls for violence. The Trump administration has also expanded categories that make some babies ineligible for birthright citizenship.
In July this year, the US Supreme Court struck down the order, triggering a new executive order targeting ‘birth tourism’ and another order expanding the categories that make some babies ineligible for birthright citizenship. Rights organizations in the US have launched a legal challenge to these in New Hampshire. The State Department revoked more than 175,000 visas held by foreign nationals, mostly for alleged criminal activity, visa violations, fraud, calls for violence, or other actions deemed a threat to national security. The policy has also tightened restrictions on visa applicants as well, suspending new visas to citizens of 75 countries. Last week, a federal judge struck down the policy, stating it violated federal immigration law by discriminating on the basis of nationality.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau criticized the use of tourist and business visas as a means to obtain asylum. He wrote on X, ‘People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims. Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration law.’ Individuals who enter the US on business or tourist visas and later apply for asylum derive their current legal status from the pending asylum process, rather than from the original visa.
Bermejo Casado, a researcher at Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, notes that revoking a non-immigrant visa is not the same as terminating an asylum claim. Individuals who enter the US on business or tourist visas and later apply for asylum derive their current legal status from the pending asylum process, rather than from the original visa.
‘They would lose their status as temporary visitors, but they would not necessarily become immediately removable solely because their visa has been revoked,’ Bermejo Casado said, noting, ‘Their right to pursue an asylum application would generally remain intact until adjudication.’
The US Department of State has not published a detailed nationality breakdown of those who have claimed asylum after entering the US on B-1 and B-2 visas, and this information is not otherwise publicly available. However, Bermejo Casado noted that the groups most likely to be affected are probably similar to those that have generated the largest numbers of asylum claims in recent years.
According to Homeland Security figures, the top nationalities for successful asylum claims in recent years include those from Central and South America, such as Venezuela, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as other parts of the world including China, Russia, Turkiye and Egypt.
Applications were mostly rejected for applicants from Haiti, India, Cuba and Mexico, according to data from the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Bermejo Casado stressed, however, that the actual impact will depend on the composition of the asylum applicants who originally entered on B-1 and B-2 visas.”
Source: Al Jazeera
