The Trump administration paused reviewing visa, green card, work permit, and citizenship applications for people born in one of 39 countries subject to a U.S. travel ban. The affected countries include Nigeria, Myanmar, and Venezuela.

The United States imposed travel restrictions on most of those countries after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen on a Washington, D.C. street in late November. The Department of Homeland Security said the pauses in place for people from travel-banned nations are necessary. The pause is part of a broader effort by the administration to restrict legal migration and boost deportation of immigrants.

The pause on processing applications can cause some individuals' legal status to lapse entirely, making them susceptible to immigration detention and deportation. More than a dozen individuals from affected countries interviewed anonymously described sudden financial insecurity, months of unemployment, lost academic and professional opportunities, and anxiety over the inability to live or work legally in the U.S.

One person from Myanmar who leads a cancer clinical research team in Ohio has been living in the United States since 2016. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services paused renewing the person's work authorization, which had been renewed previously.

Another individual, from Nigeria and living in Virginia, first came to the United States in 2011 for her undergraduate and master's degrees and matched with a surgery residency program in Oregon last month. Her visa and work permit processing are frozen under the pause, which may prevent her from starting the residency.

A third person, living in Texas, came to the United States in 2023 and graduated with an engineering master's degree in December. He had to turn down multiple job offers because his work permit cannot be processed.

Some immigrants paid up to $3,000 for USCIS premium processing to have renewals and transfers decided in weeks rather than months. David Bier estimated that the federal government has received over $1 billion in fees from premium processing applications. Court filings submitted by lawyers included a statement from then-USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser that optional practical training applications for Iranians are banned and will not be processed.

The administration also introduced a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas. The White House said the efforts on visas, including the new fee, are meant to end abuses in the program, focus on the highest-skilled workers, and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor. President Trump said on the All-In Podcast, "What I will do is — you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country, and that includes junior colleges." Trump also said, "Somebody graduates at the top of their class and they can't even make a deal with a company because they don't think they are going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day One."