The Trump administration has ordered US embassies and consulates worldwide to postpone immigrant visa interviews while consular officers undergo training on new "public-charge" screening guidance, temporarily stalling applications already at the interview stage. The pause has caused confusion among applicants, some of whom received cancellation emails with no indication of when their interviews would be rescheduled, and comes amid a wider crackdown that has increasingly touched legal immigration routes alongside illegal immigration.

The State Department said the global training initiative began in early August and is intended to ensure public-charge assessments, which can render an applicant inadmissible if deemed likely to depend on public assistance, are applied "comprehensively and consistently." Most posts are expected to complete training this week, though no timeline has been given for notifying affected applicants of new interview dates. The move follows other recent measures, including a proposed six-figure fee for new H-1B visas, plans to revoke visas from up to 200,000 asylum seekers, and a federal court ruling on Friday that struck down a separate State Department policy suspending immigrant visas from 75 countries as exceeding Secretary of State Marco Rubio's legal authority.