The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is pausing immigration applications for more countries. It previously stopped processing Afghan immigration requests.
“USCIS remains dedicated to ensuring aliens from high-risk countries of concern who have entered the United States do not pose risks to national security or public safety,” the memo, dated January 1, 2026, states. “To faithfully uphold United States immigration law, the flow of aliens from countries with high overstay rates, significant fraud, or both must stop. To address potential vulnerabilities, USCIS will place an adjudicative hold on all pending benefit requests submitted by or for aliens from the high-risk countries identified in PP 10998, allowing for a thorough case-by-case review.”
According to the memo, many of the high-risk countries “experience widespread corruption, unreliable or fraudulent civil documents and criminal records, and lack effective birth registration systems, which systematically hinder accurate vetting and identity verification.” USCIS officers must “consider these country-specific factors when conducting security and background checks, and when reviewing civil documents such as passports, marriage and divorce certificates, and birth certificates, as well as criminal history information.”
The new guidance follows President Trump signing a proclamation on December 16 expanding restrictions on who may enter the United States.
“The United States must exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance and immigration processes to identify, prior to their admission or entry into the United States, foreign nationals who intend to harm Americans or our national interests,” Trump’s proclamation states. “The United States Government must ensure that admitted aliens do not intend to threaten its citizens; undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions, or founding principles; or advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.”
