Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Trump's recently announced - it first came out as a ban and now is a pause - of Visa issuance starting January 21, 2026, while they are retooling matters and scrutiny and protocols associated with public charge rules. What are we talking about there? We are talking about whether or not somebody poses a threat of being a welfare recipient in the United States. And I've done a number of videos I have made contemporaneously with this one where we dive deep into all of that in detail.

That being said, there have been questions from many, including clients of mine regarding how this impacts their ongoing case which might already be in process or we're just getting started on. So I want to head over to nafsa.org and found a very useful posting under: DOS Pauses Immigrant Visa Issuance for Nationals of 75 Countries. Included in that list is Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. So we deal primarily with U.S. Visas cases emanating from Thailand, but I have processed Cambodian, Lao and Myanmar cases over the years out here as well as Vietnam and Philippines in some rare circumstances. But for the most part, we deal with Thai cases here and Thailand is on this list. 

That said, quoting directly: "DOS pauses Immigrant Visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries. In a January 14, 2026 news posting, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that it will pause the issuance of Immigrant Visas at U.S. Consulates worldwide starting January 21, 2026 for nationals of 75 countries that DOS deems are "at high risk of public benefits usage". During the pause, DOS will conduct "a full review of all policies, regulations and guidance to ensure that immigrants from these high-risk countries do not utilize welfare in the United States or become a public charge." 

Now the question posed by many of our clients and by folks that are kind of freaking out about this is, what about my case that's in processing. Does that mean it's just dead now? No. Let's get into this. 

Quoting further: "What happens to my Immigrant Visa interview appointment?

Quoting directly: "Immigrant Visa applicants who are nationals of affected countries may submit Visa applications and attend interviews, and the Department will continue to schedule applicants for appointments, but no Immigrant Visas will be issued to these nationals during this pause."

That's the thing to take away from this. We're going to continue processing cases for the K-1, the CR-1, the IR-1. In the case of the K-1, I have some questions as to whether or not this even impacts that category as it is technically a Non-immigrant Visa and technically the public charge rule does not as heavily impact K-1 Visas, especially abroad. Now that said, when we see these policy changes and implementation and protocol changes, we could see that change. But that said, I'm holding out some level of hope that maybe K-1's just aren't affected directly by this. That being said, I think it might be a hope that ends up being dashed.

The point I'm trying to make is and the thing to take away from this video is no, your case does not stop processing. It may just mean that after interview, there may be an interval of time before a Visa could possibly be issued. So if you're already in process, don't freak out, your case is not dead. We're just continuing as status quo ante until we see what they decide to do with respect to ending this pause and we see the protocols that they bring in, and then hopefully, we start seeing Visas issued again. That being said, it remains to be seen how this plays out so we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.