They did everything right: following the rules, paying the fees, and waiting their turn. Then, one day, the government simply stopped processing their applications.
And now, hundreds of thousands of people — doctors, engineers, researchers, and students — are stuck in legal limbo, unsure if they can work, stay, or even remain in the country they now call home.
The Trump administration has hit pause on reviewing visa, green card, work permit, and citizenship applications for people born in 39 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar, and Venezuela. The US imposed travel restrictions on most of those countries after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, DC, in late November. Five months later, the impact has been catastrophic.
NPR spoke with more than a dozen people on condition of anonymity, all of whom fear adverse consequences for their immigration applications if they speak publicly. Their experiences mirror each other: sudden financial insecurity, months of unemployment, academic and professional opportunities lost, and a crippling anxiety over the abrupt inability to live or work legally in the US.
The Human Cost
“A” leads a cancer clinical research team in Ohio. She is from Myanmar and has been in the US since 2016. Her work authorization, which has been renewed before, is now paused. “It hit really hard because I was actually in line for a promotion in July,” she said. “It’s very disappointing to know that something I’ve been working really hard towards for the last few years is now going to be out of reach just because of where I was born.”
“M” lives in Virginia and is from Nigeria. She first came to the US in 2011 for her undergraduate and master’s degrees. She then pursued her medical degree and last month matched with a surgery residency program in Oregon. But because of the hold, her visas and work permit processing are frozen. She may not be able to start her residency at all.
“I cried so much the day after my match, because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I worked so hard to get to this point,” M said. “And I look around me and all my classmates are celebrating because they are celebrating with certainty. I had so much anxiety and uncertainty around me. But just because of my place of birth and my citizenship — that’s taking it away from me.”
“P” lives in Texas. He came to the US in 2023 and graduated with a master’s degree in December. He had to turn down multiple job offers because his work permit could not be processed. “I really cannot move on with my life. And I really cannot contribute to the United States because I am from Nigeria,” he said. “I can barely feed myself. I can barely pay bills. It is overwhelming and sad.”
The Broken Promise
While campaigning in 2024, President Trump told Silicon Valley investors that he supported legalizing foreign-born students. “What I will do is — you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country, and that includes junior colleges,” he said on the “All-In Podcast.” “You have to be able to recruit these people, and keep the people.”
“Somebody graduates at the top of their class and they can’t even make a deal with a company because they don’t think they are going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day One,” he vowed.
Those promises fell by the wayside after Trump returned to the White House. The administration began scrutinizing legal immigration processes instead of expanding them.
The White House did not directly respond to questions about this reversal. Instead, it said the administration’s efforts on visas — including a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas — are meant to end abuses in the program, focus on the highest-skilled workers, and “ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor.”
The Administration’s Defense
The Department of Homeland Security argues that the pauses are necessary. “Verifying identities and personal histories from various countries requires a rigorous process — one that prioritizes the safety of the American people,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “USCIS has paused adjudications for aliens from President Trump’s designated high-risk countries while we work to ensure they are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
Supporters of the pause agree. “It sends a clear message that the American immigration system is not an entitlement program for high-risk applicants from countries that support terrorism and do not cooperate with the US on basic international travel and immigration issues,” said Brandy Perez Carbaugh, former research associate in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.
Not all countries were restricted for alleged connections to terrorism. Some, including Senegal and Tonga, were included due to what the administration said were high rates of visa overstays. Of the 39 countries with a travel ban, about half have partial restrictions, meaning some people can still travel to the US under particular categories.
Such exemptions do not help people already in the US who are trying to renew their legal status or permission to work.
The Financial Scam
Some immigrants paid up to $3,000 for what USCIS calls “premium processing” — meaning their renewals and transfers should be decided in weeks, not months. No matter the payment, everyone from the list of travel ban countries has been left waiting.
“There’s no refund. It’s a scam. It’s a fraud,” said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. He estimates that the federal government has received over $1 billion in fees paid for these premium applications to be processed. “Absolutely nothing has been done to make it easier to comply with the law. It’s all about making it more difficult to comply with the law, and that is going to result in more people being arrested and deported.”
The pause on processing applications means that those awaiting a decision could see their legal status lapse entirely — making them susceptible to immigration detention and deportation.
The Legal Battles
There are at least 33 lawsuits challenging the pauses, filed by individuals as well as on behalf of large groups. Zachary New, an immigration attorney in Colorado, represents over 500 people impacted by the holds. He estimates that about half of all immigration applications currently at USCIS are impacted by these travel ban-linked pauses.
A recent NPR analysis found there are nearly 12 million applications awaiting a decision from USCIS, with 247,000 that have not even been opened. The impact is wide-ranging: from spousal sponsorships to work permits to renewals for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for people from the 39 countries.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Northern California issued a preliminary injunction mandating that USCIS issue a decision by May 18 on applications from 31 citizens of Iran and one citizen of Sudan who are waiting on work authorizations. “The public interest at large would not be served by denial of a preliminary injunction, which would leave applicants… in immigration limbo while final adjudication of their applications for employment authorization remains on indefinite hold,” Judge Susan van Keulen wrote.
Other legal cases are moving more slowly. New said his clients are relying on savings and trying to wait out this pause — or preparing to sell homes and either split up their families or travel to their home countries.
“These are all people who are trying to do things the right way. So by suddenly not having an option for doing things the right way, folks are kind of panicking,” New said. “These aren’t individuals who are suddenly jumping into the shadow economy and trying to work without authorization.”
US Citizens Are Hurting Too
The pause is also directly impacting some US citizens. Isaac Narvaez Gomez, a US citizen born in Venezuela, reconnected with his childhood friend, a woman with triple citizenship: Venezuelan, Italian, and Uruguayan. The pair married last summer. But when they began filing the paperwork for her to become a permanent resident, they hit a roadblock. The process requires applicants to list their country of birth — Venezuela.
“This is something that is not only affecting immigrants, but it’s also affecting US citizens,” Narvaez Gomez said. The couple is barred from fully starting their life as newlyweds: creating joint bank accounts, traveling, buying a house, adding her to his health insurance, or planning a family. “It’s been approximately five months, and we have gotten no result.”
Another US citizen, “S,” married Charlotte, a woman from Haiti who had been in the US legally under Temporary Protected Status since 2010. Last year, the Trump administration moved to cancel that program. “She handles millions of dollars of luxury residential leasing. Like she brings in millions of dollars of revenue for a major real estate company,” S said. The couple filed all necessary paperwork to start her pathway to citizenship last summer, but the application is stuck. “This is entrapment. It’s deceit. It is despicable,” S said.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration has paused visa, green card, work permit, and citizenship applications for people born in 39 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar, and Venezuela. The pause was imposed after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen. Five months later, hundreds of thousands of people — including doctors, cancer researchers, and engineers — are stuck in legal limbo. They cannot work. They cannot plan their futures. Some may lose their legal status entirely and face deportation.
The administration says the pause is necessary for national security and vetting. Critics call it a scam, noting that the government has collected over $1 billion in premium processing fees while refusing to process the applications. At least 33 lawsuits have been filed. A federal judge has already ordered USCIS to act on some cases.
Trump promised on the campaign trail to give green cards to foreign graduates automatically. That promise is broken. Instead, millions of professionals who did everything right are now waiting — and wondering if their American dream is over.
