Published: May 6, 2026 | By DNN247 Immigration Desk
Hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants already living and working in the United States are trapped in bureaucratic limbo, unable to renew their work permits, green cards, or citizenship applications because of the Trump administration’s sweeping travel ban on nationals from 39 countries. The pause, initially triggered by a security review following a November 2025 attack in Washington DC, has now stretched into its fifth month with no clear resolution date, devastating careers, families, and livelihoods across America.
The policy, formalized through Presidential Proclamation 10998 in January 2026, fully suspended visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Haiti, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and partially suspended visa processing for an additional 20 countries. Among the partially restricted nations are Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Colombia, and Ethiopia, home to large professional diaspora communities in the United States. What began as a temporary security review has morphed into an indefinite freeze that shows no sign of lifting.
The human cost is staggering. A Nigerian woman who completed her medical degree in the United States and matched to a surgery residency program in Oregon cannot begin her placement because her work permit renewal is frozen. She represents thousands of doctors, engineers, nurses, researchers, and tech workers caught in the same trap. The White House has defended the pause as necessary to vet individuals from countries the administration deems high-risk for terrorism or welfare dependency, but critics call it a blanket punishment applied without individual review.
The Department of Homeland Security told NPR that the agency is conducting maximum vetting and screening processes for individuals from designated high-risk countries. The process offers no timeline. For people who have lived legally in the United States for years, sometimes decades, this means their status sits in suspension. They cannot travel internationally, because returning might be impossible. They cannot change jobs. In some cases, their driver’s licenses have expired because those depend on valid immigration documents.
The State Department has also issued new guidance instructing consular officers to ask nonimmigrant visa applicants whether they fear returning to their home countries and to deny visas to anyone who says yes. This effectively transforms a routine tourist or business visa interview into an asylum screening, and it has produced a sharp drop in visa issuance rates for nationals of the affected countries. International travel, academic exchange programs, and business partnerships with dozens of countries face disruption as a result.
The administration has simultaneously moved to restrict visas for individuals it accuses of supporting US adversaries. The State Department announced actions against 26 people across the Western Hemisphere for allegedly undermining US interests. At least seven individuals with family ties to Iran’s government have had their immigration visas terminated. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, targeted over his role in prosecuting former President Jair Bolsonaro, saw his US visa revoked. Colombian President Gustavo Petro was stripped of his visa after a critical UN speech, though it was later reinstated.
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Immigration lawyers warn that the current system punishes legal compliance. People who followed every rule, filed every form, and paid every fee now find themselves stateless in legal terms, unable to work, travel, or plan their futures. ‘Many of these people did everything they could to be on the right side of the law,’ one immigration policy analyst told NPR. ‘And the government simply decided one day to stop processing their applications.’
Congress has offered no legislative relief. The administration’s proposed ‘TRUMP AMERICA AI Act‘ and broader immigration reform discussions remain focused on restriction rather than resolution for those already caught in the system. As summer approaches and work permit expiration dates pile up, the crisis inside America’s immigrant communities continues to deepen, largely out of sight of mainstream political debate.
