Breaking News—The Trump administration has halted immigrant visa interviews—that is, green card interviews—at U.S. embassies worldwide.

Consular officers are pausing appointments for intensive training on stricter public-charge rules because too many new immigrants have come here and ended up on welfare in recent years—especially from third world countries—and U.S. taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for it.

Scheduled interviews are being canceled or postponed — with no restart date yet.

Here’s what that means:

Consular processing for EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW), EB-5 investor visas, and marriage-based green card cases → delayed.

Adjustment of Status cases inside the United States → this pause does not stop USCIS from processing and approving them.

And Nonimmigrant visas, like the E-2 investor visa, the L-1 visa for intracompany employee transfers, and the O-1 visa for individuals of extraordinary ability in their fields —which most of my clients are seeking, stay open. It’s business as usual at U.S. consulates in nonimmigrant visas casas.

Meanwhile, a tougher public-charge standard hits new I-485 Adjustment of Status filings on September 18th for the same reason—the Trump administration doesn’t want to grant green cards to immigrants who are coming for welfare, not jobs. We’ve seen quite enough of that under the previous administration.

I’m Joseph Bovino, U.S. Immigration and business attorney based in the free state of Florida and serving clients worldwide who love America and can help make it even greater than it already is.

Use the link in my bio to contact me or schedule a video consultation.