US prepares largest mass visa revocation in history
The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing a large-scale revocation of tourist and business visas for foreigners who applied for asylum after arriving in the country. Up to 200,000 people could be affected.
As The Wall Street Journal writes, if the plans are implemented on the stated scale, it could become the largest simultaneous visa revocation in US history.
This concerns nonimmigrant visas B-1 for business trips and B-2 for tourist and private visits. The attention of US authorities has been drawn to foreigners who entered the US as temporary visitors and then applied for asylum.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said that the department, together with the Department of Homeland Security, is reviewing the relevant B-1 and B-2 visas.
According to the State Department's position, such visas are issued to people who declare their intention to come to the US for a limited period and leave the country after the trip. The Trump administration considers applying for asylum after such entry as grounds for additional review of visa status.
The exact number of visas that will ultimately be revoked is not yet determined. The figure of up to 200,000 reflects the potential scale of the campaign, not the number of already canceled documents.
The new initiative is part of a broader tightening of the Trump administration's migration and visa policy. The State Department has previously reported the revocation of more than 175,000 US visas due to various violations, criminal offenses, and national security concerns.
