The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing to revoke potentially up to 200,000 non-immigrant visas held by foreign nationals who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the United States, in what could become the largest mass visa cancellation in US history.
The US Department of State plans to revoke B-1 and B-2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 to individuals who have previously filed asylum claims or are currently seeking asylum in the country.
B-1 visas are generally issued for temporary business travel, while B-2 visas cover tourism and certain other short-term visits.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the measure targets foreigners who entered the United States claiming they intended to remain only temporarily but later sought asylum.
The department has not publicly confirmed how many people will ultimately be affected. However, Associated Press reports citing State Department documents and US officials indicate that as many as 200,000 visa holders could face revocation.
The proposed cancellations form part of the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which has expanded significantly during the president’s second term.
The administration has already revoked more than 175,000 visas this year, primarily citing alleged criminal activity, visa violations, fraud, calls for violence or other conduct considered a threat to national security.
Washington has also introduced tighter restrictions on immigration and visa applications, including a policy suspending new visas for citizens of 75 countries. A federal judge recently struck down that policy, ruling that it violated federal immigration law by discriminating on the basis of nationality.
The latest measure specifically focuses on people who entered the United States using B-1 or B-2 visas and subsequently sought asylum.
Applicants for these visas are generally required to demonstrate that they intend to return to their home countries and are not planning to remain permanently in the United States. The Trump administration argues that filing an asylum claim after entering the country on a temporary visa can conflict with the purpose for which the visa was granted.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau criticised what he described as the use of tourist and business visas as a route into the US asylum system, arguing that asylum should not be used to circumvent immigration rules.
However, immigration experts say revoking a visa does not automatically terminate an individual’s asylum case.
Rut Bermejo Casado, a researcher and lecturer specialising in migration and asylum policy at Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, said people who entered the US legally on B-1 or B-2 visas and later applied for asylum derive their current legal position from the pending asylum process rather than the original visitor visa.
As a result, losing the visa would not necessarily make them immediately removable from the United States, provided their asylum applications remain pending and they otherwise have legal protection during the process.
The consequences could become more significant if an asylum application is eventually rejected. Without the original non-immigrant status, individuals could have fewer legal grounds on which to remain in the country.
The policy could also face legal challenges over whether visa holders are being penalised for exercising their right to seek asylum. While the executive branch has broad authority over visas, experts say courts could be asked to examine questions involving due process and administrative law.
Bermejo Casado said the measure could also discourage people from seeking asylum after entering the United States on temporary visas, even where they may have legitimate protection claims.
She suggested that the policy could function partly as a deterrent, signalling that the government views post-entry asylum applications as evidence that some temporary visas were used for purposes inconsistent with their intended use.
Implementing the policy would also require significant coordination between the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and immigration courts to identify people who entered on B-1 or B-2 visas and subsequently filed asylum applications.
The US government has not released a detailed breakdown of the nationalities that would be most affected.
Experts expect the impact to vary depending on which nationalities have historically filed asylum applications after entering the United States on tourist or business visas.
Recent US asylum data shows significant numbers of successful claims involving nationals from countries including Venezuela, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, China, Russia, Türkiye and Egypt.
At the same time, large numbers of asylum applications from nationals of Haiti, India, Cuba and Mexico have been rejected, according to data from the US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.
However, overall asylum statistics do not necessarily indicate which nationalities will be most affected by the new visa policy, because many asylum seekers from those countries enter the United States through irregular border crossings rather than using temporary visitor visas.
The proposed mass cancellation therefore represents a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict immigration and prevent temporary visas from being used as a pathway to long-term residence through the asylum system.