The United States says it will suspend immigrant visa processing for 75 countries around the world, as US President Donald Trump’s administration continues its wide-reaching crackdown on immigration. 

The Department of State said on Wednesday that visa processing would be paused for countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”.

“The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” it said, adding that the measure would affect “dozens of countries”, including Somalia, Haiti, Iran and Eritrea, Aljazeera reported.

Trump has pursued a hardline, anti-immigration agenda since he returned to office in January 2025, promising to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history.

Over the past year, he has announced curbs to several US visa programmes and drastically slashed the number of planned refugee admissions into the US.