The United States government has announced a sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for Nigeria and 74 other countries, marking the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy.
The move, announced on Wednesday by the US State Department, affects people seeking to migrate permanently to the United States from a total of 75 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Brazil, Russia, Iran, and Somalia.
Okay News reports that while tourist, business, student and other non-immigrant visas remain unaffected for now, the decision effectively halts new permanent residency approvals from the listed countries while Washington reviews its immigration screening systems.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the suspension was necessary to stop what the Trump administration sees as abuse of the American immigration system.
“The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of America’s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,” Pigott said.
“Immigrant visa processing from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassesses immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”
Under US immigration law, applicants can be denied visas if officials believe they may become dependent on public assistance. However, the new policy applies that standard collectively to entire nationalities, rather than individual cases.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on social media that the suspension includes countries such as Somalia, which Trump has frequently criticised, as well as Russia and Iran.
She also shared a Fox News report indicating that several US-friendly nations are affected, including Brazil, Egypt, and Thailand, signalling that the policy is not limited to adversarial states.
As of Wednesday night, the State Department had not published an official list, but a document circulating in Washington named Nigeria among the countries affected.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and one of the largest sources of immigrants to the US, is listed alongside dozens of countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
The full list of affected countries includes:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
