U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials confirmed on January 2, 2026, that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has paused adjudication of all pending immigration benefits—including visas, adjustment of status, naturalization and asylum—for nationals of twenty more countries. The freeze follows President Trump’s December proclamation expanding the travel-restriction list from 19 to 39 countries, plus the Palestinian Authority, effective January 1.
Most of the newly targeted states are in Africa—among them Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe—though the list also sweeps in several Asian and Middle-Eastern jurisdictions. In a memo circulated to field offices, USCIS directed officers to “re-review” cases dating back to 2021 for possible security concerns. Limited exceptions exist for Olympics or World-Cup athletes and accredited diplomatic travel.
For multinational employers, the action instantly deepens workforce-planning complexity. H-1B, L-1, E and other petition-based cases touching affected nationals will stall, even after an approved petition from the Labor Department. Dependents and green-card applicants already in the final stages face indefinite delay, while consular processing abroad is effectively shuttered. Companies with talent pipelines from Nigeria’s tech sector or Tanzania’s energy industry, for example, should accelerate contingency recruiting or consider intra-company transfers through Canada, the U.K. or EU member states not subject to the U.S. embargo.
![DHS Freezes Visa, Green-Card and Asylum Processing for Applicants From 20 Additional Countries]()
Amid this uncertainty, both employers and individual travelers may find value in using a specialized visa-processing platform like VisaHQ. Through its U.S. portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/), VisaHQ aggregates the latest government advisories, offers personalized document checklists and gives real-time status tracking, helping users explore alternative travel or third-country processing strategies when direct U.S. filings are paused.
The administration argues that high visa-overstay rates, identity-fraud indicators and unresolved security vetting justify the blanket pause. Critics counter that the measure disproportionately impacts lawful migrants and will exacerbate USCIS’s 11-million-case backlog. Advocacy groups are preparing litigation on equal-protection and Administrative Procedure Act grounds; early injunction requests could surface this month, although courts historically grant wide deference to executive-branch national-security findings.
Practical next steps for employers: (1) audit all in-process immigration matters to identify at-risk beneficiaries; (2) freeze travel for employees from the newly listed countries who hold advance parole or await consular stamping; (3) prepare Form I-9 reverification strategies because employment authorization documents (EADs) for paused applicants may expire before adjudication resumes. HR teams should also update communication templates to address employee anxiety and ensure access to EAP resources.
While DHS offered no sunset date, officials hinted the review could last “several months.” Given that previous travel-ban litigation led to iterative policy shifts, mobility leaders should monitor federal court dockets and DHS press statements closely. A nimble, scenario-based approach—balancing business continuity with duty-of-care—will be vital until clearer timelines emerge.
Most of the newly targeted states are in Africa—among them Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe—though the list also sweeps in several Asian and Middle-Eastern jurisdictions. In a memo circulated to field offices, USCIS directed officers to “re-review” cases dating back to 2021 for possible security concerns. Limited exceptions exist for Olympics or World-Cup athletes and accredited diplomatic travel.
For multinational employers, the action instantly deepens workforce-planning complexity. H-1B, L-1, E and other petition-based cases touching affected nationals will stall, even after an approved petition from the Labor Department. Dependents and green-card applicants already in the final stages face indefinite delay, while consular processing abroad is effectively shuttered. Companies with talent pipelines from Nigeria’s tech sector or Tanzania’s energy industry, for example, should accelerate contingency recruiting or consider intra-company transfers through Canada, the U.K. or EU member states not subject to the U.S. embargo.
Amid this uncertainty, both employers and individual travelers may find value in using a specialized visa-processing platform like VisaHQ. Through its U.S. portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/), VisaHQ aggregates the latest government advisories, offers personalized document checklists and gives real-time status tracking, helping users explore alternative travel or third-country processing strategies when direct U.S. filings are paused.
The administration argues that high visa-overstay rates, identity-fraud indicators and unresolved security vetting justify the blanket pause. Critics counter that the measure disproportionately impacts lawful migrants and will exacerbate USCIS’s 11-million-case backlog. Advocacy groups are preparing litigation on equal-protection and Administrative Procedure Act grounds; early injunction requests could surface this month, although courts historically grant wide deference to executive-branch national-security findings.
Practical next steps for employers: (1) audit all in-process immigration matters to identify at-risk beneficiaries; (2) freeze travel for employees from the newly listed countries who hold advance parole or await consular stamping; (3) prepare Form I-9 reverification strategies because employment authorization documents (EADs) for paused applicants may expire before adjudication resumes. HR teams should also update communication templates to address employee anxiety and ensure access to EAP resources.
While DHS offered no sunset date, officials hinted the review could last “several months.” Given that previous travel-ban litigation led to iterative policy shifts, mobility leaders should monitor federal court dockets and DHS press statements closely. A nimble, scenario-based approach—balancing business continuity with duty-of-care—will be vital until clearer timelines emerge.
