U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new policy memo halting the processing of all asylum claims regardless of an immigrant’s country of origin, expanding restrictions on foreign nationals in the U.S., ordering a halt to green card processing and other immigration benefits for immigrants from 19 countries covered by a June travel ban proclamation, and directing a “comprehensive re-review” of approved immigration benefit requests for aliens from these 19 nations. The pause on immigration benefit requests for countries subject to the travel ban includes applications for permanent residency, replacements for green cards, applications for travel documents, and applications for permanent residents to preserve their status while working abroad. It applies regardless of the date an applicant entered the U.S. The 19 countries subject to the travel ban include: Venezuela, Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Turkmenistan.
