In an extraordinary move with immediate global-mobility consequences, the U.S. government on 29 November 2025 ordered a nationwide pause on every pending asylum case and an outright freeze on visa issuance to anyone traveling on an Afghan passport. Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph B. Edlow announced that “all asylum decisions are halted until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” while the State Department simultaneously instructed consular posts to stop printing Afghan visas. The twin directives follow a deadly 27 November shooting near the White House in which a former Afghan soldier resettled under “Operation Allies Welcome” was named as the lone suspect, intensifying political pressure on the Trump administration to clamp down on immigration controls.
Although framed as a temporary security review, the order has immediate operational impact for more than 1.4 million asylum applicants already languishing in USCIS backlogs and for roughly 100,000 Afghans in various immigration pipelines—including Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) cases for wartime translators and family-reunification petitions. Advocacy coalition #AfghanEvac warned that the suspension may violate federal court orders requiring timely adjudication of SIV applications and could effectively dismantle a Congressionally-mandated program that the Pentagon relies on to protect U.S. allies in future conflicts.
From a corporate-mobility perspective, the blanket freeze raises red flags for defence contractors, NGOs, universities and tech firms that employ Afghan talent or are planning humanitarian parole sponsorships. Employers should anticipate last-minute interview cancellations, extended security advisory opinions, and possible 221(g) refusals at consulates. Companies with Afghan nationals in the H-1B, J-1 or F-1 pipelines are advised to halt travel and explore alternatives such as third-country remote work, parole-in-place requests, or emergency humanitarian parole—none of which are guaranteed under the current enforcement climate.
Policy analysts note that pausing affirmative asylum does little to advance mass-removal goals because applicants lawfully remain in the U.S. while cases are pending; nevertheless, the move may presage a broader strategy of issuing swift blanket denials once new regulations are in place. President Trump has also floated denaturalisation for naturalised immigrants deemed “incompatible with Western civilisation,” raising uncertainty for corporate I-9 compliance and future expatriate assignments.
Practical next steps for mobility managers include: 1) auditing all active Afghan cases and resetting assignment start dates; 2) advising Afghan employees to avoid international travel; 3) monitoring forthcoming Federal Register notices for waiver criteria; and 4) preparing public-relations plans to address workforce morale among Afghan colleagues who now face indefinite limbo. While the administration insists the pause will be “temporary,” history suggests that similar national-security bans—from the 2017 travel ban to the 2025 proclamation suspending visas from 19 countries—often become long-term fixtures of the U.S. immigration landscape.
Although framed as a temporary security review, the order has immediate operational impact for more than 1.4 million asylum applicants already languishing in USCIS backlogs and for roughly 100,000 Afghans in various immigration pipelines—including Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) cases for wartime translators and family-reunification petitions. Advocacy coalition #AfghanEvac warned that the suspension may violate federal court orders requiring timely adjudication of SIV applications and could effectively dismantle a Congressionally-mandated program that the Pentagon relies on to protect U.S. allies in future conflicts.
From a corporate-mobility perspective, the blanket freeze raises red flags for defence contractors, NGOs, universities and tech firms that employ Afghan talent or are planning humanitarian parole sponsorships. Employers should anticipate last-minute interview cancellations, extended security advisory opinions, and possible 221(g) refusals at consulates. Companies with Afghan nationals in the H-1B, J-1 or F-1 pipelines are advised to halt travel and explore alternatives such as third-country remote work, parole-in-place requests, or emergency humanitarian parole—none of which are guaranteed under the current enforcement climate.
Policy analysts note that pausing affirmative asylum does little to advance mass-removal goals because applicants lawfully remain in the U.S. while cases are pending; nevertheless, the move may presage a broader strategy of issuing swift blanket denials once new regulations are in place. President Trump has also floated denaturalisation for naturalised immigrants deemed “incompatible with Western civilisation,” raising uncertainty for corporate I-9 compliance and future expatriate assignments.
Practical next steps for mobility managers include: 1) auditing all active Afghan cases and resetting assignment start dates; 2) advising Afghan employees to avoid international travel; 3) monitoring forthcoming Federal Register notices for waiver criteria; and 4) preparing public-relations plans to address workforce morale among Afghan colleagues who now face indefinite limbo. While the administration insists the pause will be “temporary,” history suggests that similar national-security bans—from the 2017 travel ban to the 2025 proclamation suspending visas from 19 countries—often become long-term fixtures of the U.S. immigration landscape.
