Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. v. Rubio
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York · No. 1:26-cv-00858 (S.D.N.Y.)
Effective January 21, 2026, the State Department paused issuing immigrant visas — the visa issued abroad after an underlying petition like Form I-130 or I-140 is approved and the case reaches the National Visa Center — to nationals of 75 countries, citing concern that immigrants from those countries were at high risk of relying on U.S.
Decided
2026-08-21
Summary
Effective January 21, 2026, the State Department paused issuing immigrant visas — the visa issued abroad after an underlying petition like Form I-130 or I-140 is approved and the case reaches the National Visa Center — to nationals of 75 countries, citing concern that immigrants from those countries were at high risk of relying on U.S. public benefits. Judge Jeannette A. Vargas held the blanket, nationality-wide suspension exceeded the State Department's statutory authority and violated the Immigration and Nationality Act's bar on nationality-based discrimination in immigrant-visa issuance, since it overrode the case-by-case discretion the statute assigns to individual consular officers.
Current status
The court ordered the government to submit a sworn compliance status report; the government acknowledged more than 43,000 immigrant-visa applications had been denied solely under the vacated policy. The State Department confirmed as of late August 2026 that the pause is no longer in effect, though this app can't confirm whether a specific pending case's consular processing has actually resumed as a result.
Source: U.S. Department of State: Immigrant Visa Processing Updates for Nationalities at High Risk of U.S. Public Benefits Reliance (Aug 28, 2026)
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