US mission says pause on immigrant visas for Pakistan until vetting meets maximum degree of eligibility

Days after the United States announced freezing immigrant visa processing for 75 countries including Pakistan, the US Embassy in Islamabad said on Friday the pause would remain until Washington could ensure that new immigrants had been vetted to the “maximum degree to ensure their eligibility for a US visa”.

“The Trump Administration is focused on protecting the American people by upholding the highest standards of screening and vetting of visa applicants. Effective January 21, the Department of State is pausing issuance to all immigrant visa applicants from selected countries, including Pakistan.

“Secretary Rubio has instituted this pause until we can ensure that new immigrants have been vetted to the maximum degree to ensure their eligibility for a US visa, including that they will not use public assistance.

“This action applies to the issuance of immigrant visas only. It does not apply to nonimmigrant visas, such as those for tourists, students, athletes, skilled workers, and their families,” the Embassy said in a post on X.

Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Islamabad was in contact with the US authorities regarding immigrant visa processing issue.

“Basically it was a brief statement by the US State Department on social media account on the internal review of processing immigrant visas that they are in a process of that. We are in touch with the US authorities to ascertain further details. This is evolving news that we are following,” he said, during a weekly press briefing in Islamabad. “We hope that the routine processing of immigrant visa will resume soon.”