The administration of US President Donald Trump is planning to revoke the tourist and business visas of foreign nationals who have applied for asylum or are currently in asylum proceedings in the United States, the State Department announced.
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The visas of up to 200,000 people are under review after they entered the US on tourist or business travel documents and subsequently applied for asylum.
The final number of visas that may be revoked has not yet been made public. However, the Associated Press, citing State Department documents and statements from two US officials, estimates that the measure could affect up to 200,000 foreign nationals. If implemented, the plan would represent the largest visa revocation in US history.
The State Department is expected to send out revocation notices in the coming weeks. The measure applies to B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 to people who have sought asylum or whose applications remain pending. These visa categories are generally used for business trips, tourism, family visits or medical treatment.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the department is working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify people who arrived in the US as temporary visitors but later applied for asylum with the intention of remaining permanently.
“We are working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify and revoke the visas of foreign nationals who came to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors but then filed asylum claims in order to remain here permanently,” Pigott said.
He did not provide an exact figure, arguing that the number “remains dynamic and may change continuously.”
According to officials, losing a visa does not necessarily mean immediate deportation. Officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity explained that most people whose asylum claims are still under review will be moved into a different category and will no longer retain their status as tourists or business travelers.
The use of tourist and business visas as a means of subsequently applying for asylum was criticized by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
“People in the US and around the world are fed up with fraudulent asylum claims,” Landau wrote on the social media platform X. He added: “Asylum was not intended to be a backdoor to circumvent immigration law.”
Currently, people applying for B1 and B2 visas must declare that they do not intend to seek asylum and must prove that they plan to return to their countries of origin. It remains unclear how many current holders of these visas have actually filed asylum applications. /DW
