Sweeping US immigration changes take effect as 250,000 visas revoked
WASHINGTON: Sweeping changes to United States immigration policy take effect on October 1 as the Trump administration tightens scrutiny of foreign nationals while the State Department says it has revoked more than 250,000 visas since President Donald Trump returned to office.
The new federal fiscal year brings changes affecting green card applicants, visa holders, some non-citizens receiving government health coverage and people seeking certain US visas. The changes include the reopening of some employment-based green card categories, tighter eligibility requirements for some Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programme (CHIP) recipients, and expanded social-media screening of visa applicants.
The State Department said the more than 250,000 visa revocations involved a range of alleged violations, including breaches of visa conditions, criminal activity, fraud, abuse of the immigration system and national security concerns.
About 2,300 visas were revoked in cases involving so-called birth tourism, in which pregnant foreign nationals travel to the US specifically to give birth.
“Every visa decision is a national security decision,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said, describing the revocations as part of an expanded vetting effort.
The department has also revoked the visas of 27 current or former officials and their family members from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru over allegations of corruption.
In another move, the administration has been preparing to revoke business and tourist visas held by as many as 200,000 foreigners who entered the US on B1 or B2 visas and subsequently applied for asylum.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau has criticised what he described as “bogus asylum claims”, arguing that the asylum system was intended to protect people facing persecution rather than provide a way around immigration restrictions.
The administration says a large number of asylum applications have contributed to a substantial backlog in the system, with some cases taking years to resolve.
The visa crackdown follows a large number of revocations reported in August, when the State Department said it had cancelled more than 175,000 visas. The department attributed most of those cases to encounters with law enforcement involving offences including assault, driving under the influence, theft and drug-related crimes. Other cited offences included reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud and embezzlement.
Green cards
For immigrants seeking permanent residence, the most closely watched development is the State Department’s October 2026 Visa Bulletin.
The monthly bulletin establishes the dates that determine when many family-sponsored and employment-based green-card applicants may proceed with their applications. It contains separate “Final Action Dates” and “Dates for Filing” charts, although applicants adjusting their status inside the US must also follow instructions issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The start of the new fiscal year on October 1 also resets annual employment-based visa limits. The State Department said some employment-based categories had advanced for the new fiscal year, although some categories for applicants from countries other than those subject to special per-country limits had also retrogressed.
Indian employment-based applicants are among those closely watching the changes. The October bulletin lists, for example, a February 1, 2023 final-action date for Indian applicants in the EB-1 category, November 1, 2013 for EB-2 and January 1, 2014 for EB-3.
The department had exhausted the fiscal 2026 allocation for Indian applicants in the EB-2 category in May, but said the annual limits would reset on October 1, allowing qualified applicants to receive visas under the new fiscal year allocation.
Expanded social-media screening
From October 1, the State Department is also broadening its online presence review to additional nonimmigrant visa categories.
The new screening covers foreign media representatives seeking I visas and Canadian and Mexican professionals and their dependants applying under TN and TD classifications. Applicants in those categories are instructed to make their social media profiles public or open for review.
The department says it uses information from available sources during visa screening to determine whether applicants are eligible and whether they pose national security or public safety concerns.
Other changes taking effect around the start of the new fiscal year concern access to public health programmes. Some non-citizens receiving Medicaid or CHIP face tighter eligibility requirements, potentially affecting their continued coverage.
For immigrants already in the US or waiting for applications to be processed, the consequences will vary according to visa category, country of chargeability, immigration status and the applicant’s priority date.
The October changes therefore combine two different aspects of the administration’s immigration policy: greater scrutiny and enforcement for some foreign nationals, alongside the reopening or advancement of certain green card categories as the new fiscal year begins.
