State Dept. Freezing Visa Processing for 75 Countries

MARY CHASTAIN JAN 14, 2026 7:00 PM

The State Department has paused visa processing for 75 countries beginning on January 21.

The move stems from fraud schemes originating in Minnesota.

“The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates,” the department wrote on X. “The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.”

The move expands on the instructions sent to embassies around the world sent in November, months before the exposure of the fraud in Minnesota, which told officials “to deny visas to applicants deemed likely to rely on public benefits, weighing a wide range of factors including health, age, English proficiency, finances and even potential need for long-term medical care.”

Fox News viewed the memo, which includes the countries of Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Somalia, Thailand, and Yemen.

“The pause impacts dozens of countries – including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea – whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival,” added the department.

The administration believes that residents of those countries will likely need public assistance.

Let’s look at Somali immigrant data in Minnesota from the Center for Immigration Studies (emphasis mine):

• More than half (52 percent) of children in Somali immigrant homes in Minnesota live in poverty, while only 8 percent of children in native-headed homes are in poverty.
• One in eight children in poverty in Minnesota lives in a Somali immigrant home.
• About 39 percent of working-age Somalis have no high school diploma, compared to just 5 percent of natives.
• Among working-age adult Somalis who have lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years, half still cannot speak English “very well”.
• About 54 percent of Somali-headed households in Minnesota receive food stamps, and 73 percent of Somali households have at least one member on Medicaid. The comparable figures for native households are 7 percent and 18 percent.
• Nearly every Somali household with children (89 percent) receives some form of welfare.
• Although Somalis have recently been implicated in welfare fraud, any population with poverty rates as high as theirs will qualify for extensive means-tested aid. The best way to reduce immigrant consumption of welfare is not simply to crack down on fraud, but to reduce the number of new arrivals who have low earning power.

Yeah, that data came out in December 2025.

I bet leftists will run to the courts over this move.

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