An IMGlobalWealth.news Report
The United States has temporarily disrupted immigrant-visa appointments at embassies and consulates worldwide while consular officers undergo additional training on the “public charge” test, adding uncertainty for people seeking permanent residence from outside the country.
A State Department spokesperson told Reuters that appointments were being adjusted to accommodate a global training initiative intended to ensure applicants are assessed comprehensively and consistently. The department did not give Reuters a firm timetable for normal scheduling to resume.
The Associated Press, citing a State Department official, reported that the interruption began in early August and is not expected to extend beyond early to mid-September. Interviews affected in August are being moved to September, October and November rather than cancelled.
The impact is expected to fall mainly on family-based immigrant applicants, including spouses, parents, children and siblings of US citizens. AP reported that employer-sponsored immigrant visas are generally not affected because applicants can demonstrate prospective earnings. The measure concerns consular processing abroad; it is not a blanket suspension of every green-card application inside the United States.
At the centre of the policy is America’s longstanding “public charge” rule, under which applicants may be refused if officials judge them likely to become dependent on government support. On August 5, the State Department also introduced a pilot procedure allowing some applicants refused on public-charge grounds to seek admission through a financial bond.
The move comes shortly after US District Judge Jeannette Vargas struck down a separate policy that had suspended immigrant-visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries. The court found that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had exceeded his statutory authority by imposing a categorical restriction rather than leaving eligibility decisions to consular officers.
The scale of legal immigration makes even a temporary disruption significant. US consulates issued 612,258 immigrant visas in fiscal 2024, according to State Department data.
Timing may be particularly important for Diversity Visa applicants. The State Department says the DV-2026 programme has an annual limit of approximately 52,101 visas, and eligibility expires on September 30, 2026. Visas cannot be issued under DV-2026 after that date, even to people previously selected.
For many applicants, the immediate risk is therefore not rejection but delay, in a system where missed appointments and statutory deadlines can have lasting consequences.
