The Trump administration has announced a sweeping new policy that will revoke nonimmigrant visas held by foreign nationals who entered the United States on short-term travel authorization before submitting asylum claims to remain in the country permanently. Senior State Department officials frame the move as a critical crackdown on immigration fraud that exploits the U.S. visa system.
“Obtaining a visa in order to seek asylum is fraud – which is grounds for visa revocation,” stated State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott in an official comment. Pigott confirmed that the total number of visas impacted will shift over time, with revocations set to proceed on an ongoing rolling basis. Leading U.S. media outlets have projected that hundreds of thousands of current visa holders could ultimately be affected by the new enforcement action.
Since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, his administration has already revoked more than 175,000 visas held by foreign nationals on a range of violation grounds, official State Department data confirms.
“Under President Trump and Secretary [Marco] Rubio’s leadership, we are making clear that a visa is a privilege — not a right,” Pigott shared in a formal statement to the BBC. He added that the State Department is working in close coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to identify visa holders who misrepresented their intentions when applying for short-term entry, then submitted asylum applications after arriving in the U.S.
“These types of visas are issued with the clear understanding that they are for those who intend to return home,” Pigott explained. All applicants for short-term B1 business and B2 tourist visas are required to pledge they will not submit asylum claims after entering the United States as part of the standard application process.
According to Associated Press reporting citing internal State Department documents, the revocation order applies to all B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 where the holder has already submitted an asylum claim or is currently pursuing asylum status. 2024 State Department issuance data shows that the largest share of short-term business and tourism visas went to citizens of Brazil, which received more than 1.1 million B1/B2 visas that year. Other top countries for visa issuances include mainland China, India, and Pakistan, while visitors from Great Britain and Northern Ireland received just over 32,300 short-term visas in 2024.
Earlier this month, the State Department noted that it had already revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals found to have violated visa terms, committed criminal offenses, incited violence against U.S. citizens, defrauded American individuals or institutions, abused the U.S. immigration system, or posed a threat to national security. In a related administrative shift, the department recently instructed U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to reschedule routine visa interviews to allow consular staff to complete required training on the new, more restrictive immigration and visa policies.
The new visa revocation policy comes one week after a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s broad visa ban covering 75 countries. The judge ruled that the policy, which was implemented shortly after Trump took office in January 2025, exceeded the statutory authority granted to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This ruling marks the second recent legal setback for the administration’s restrictive immigration agenda: in June, a separate federal judge blocked the administration’s attempt to pause processing of all immigration applications from nationals of 39 countries.