The administration of US President Donald Trump may cancel up to 200,000 business and tourist visas of foreigners who have applied for asylum after entering the US. According to the Associated Press (AP), this measure could become the largest mass visa revocation in the country's history.
In the coming weeks, the department plans to announce the cancellation of B-1 and B-2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026, according to two State Department sources and documents reviewed by the agency. B-1 visas are typically for business travel, while B-2 visas are for tourism, visiting relatives, or receiving medical care.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the department is coordinating with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify foreigners who claimed a short-term visit when receiving a visa, but in fact decided to stay in the country permanently.
“We are coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of aliens who came to the United States claiming to be here temporarily and then applied for asylum to remain in the country permanently,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on social media that the asylum system “should not be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws.”
“People in the United States and around the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims. “Asylum should not be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws, but is intended to protect people persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
At the same time, the cancellation of visas, according to AP sources, will not necessarily lead to the immediate deportation of their owners. Most foreigners with pending asylum claims will be reassigned to another immigration category and their tourist or business traveler status will be revoked.
Currently, when applying for B-1 and B-2 visas, the applicant must convince the consular officer that his trip is temporary.
“These visas are issued on the clear understanding that the holders intend to return home,” Pigott said.
Authorities are seeking to curb the practice of making entry into the United States on a nonimmigrant visa the de facto first step toward obtaining a green card or asylum. USCIS has previously said that nonimmigrant visa holders must apply for green cards through U.S. consulates outside the U.S., and exceptions to this procedure may only arise in “extraordinary circumstances.”
In addition, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can now, in some cases, forward an asylum application directly to an immigration judge without first interviewing the applicant.
The administration attributes the tightening of policies to the high strain on the immigration system. Thus, by the end of the 2025 fiscal year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had accumulated about 1.4 million unprocessed asylum applications.
At the same time, the rate of refusals in cases before immigration courts is growing. According to the TRAC research center, by March 2025 the figure exceeded 70%, by January 2026 – 80%, and in June 2026, 94% of asylum cases were rejected
