US Immigration News

The Biden administration has announced three key measures to help combat a rising US visa and immigration application backlog that has left millions of people in limbo. A senior official at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said: “The backlog of applications has crippled our ability to effectively process them in a timely fashion. That needs to change.”

 

Chinese officials have been hit with US visa sanctions amid its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, including repressive acts against Uyghur Muslims. 

 

The officials denied access to US visas are understood to be responsible for, or complicit in, acts of religious oppression, while also targeting ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders and more.

Bulgaria and Cyprus are jeopardizing their access to the US Visa Waiver program because of their respective so-called golden visa schemes. Currently, Bulgaria and Cyprus – along with Romania – are the only EU member states whose citizens still require a US visa to enter America for tourism purposes.

 

More Somalians have been hit with US visa restrictions amid continued delays with the African nation’s election process. The Department of State (DoS) announced the expansion of US visa restrictions to an undisclosed number of Somalians in a statement, saying that it was in response to Somalia failing to meet a deadline to complete its parliamentary elections.

 

Senior political figures in Washington have revived an initiative that seeks to secure thousands of unused US visas for Irish nationals looking to live and work in America. 

 

The Biden administration has extended US immigration relief to Afghans in America. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that Afghans currently living in America will be protected from deportation under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) scheme.