The Trump administration is preparing to revoke business and tourism visas held by up to 200,000 foreigners who have applied for asylum or are seeking it in the United States, a move that would amount to the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history if carried out.
The action would hit B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026, and the State Department is expected to announce the revocations in the coming weeks unless the plan is challenged or revised. Tommy Pigott said the department is coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who arrived as short-term visitors and then filed for asylum to remain in the country permanently.
Pigott said the process will be ongoing and that the number of revocations remains dynamic, with the work done on a rolling basis. That means the plan is not a one-day sweep. It is a sorting exercise that could stretch across weeks, with each case reviewed as the administration moves through the list.
The most important wrinkle is that the revocations would not necessarily trigger immediate deportation. Officials said most people with asylum cases now pending would likely be recategorized, losing their status as business or tourism travelers even if they are not removed right away. That leaves the administration trying to draw a line between short-term visits and a path to stay permanently, while still relying on a process that does not resolve every case in the same way.
The broader push fits a pattern that has sharpened since Donald Trump took office for his second term last year. The administration has steadily tightened visa rules, including more social media scrutiny, expensive visa bonds and visa bans for citizens of certain countries. Christopher Landau also wrote on social media on Monday about people he said try to use tourist and business visas inappropriately, signaling the White House is framing the move as enforcement rather than a new category of punishment.
Even so, the plan is likely to face legal challenges if it is implemented at the scale now being discussed. The open question is not just how many visas are revoked, but how the government sorts the group behind them: applicants with active asylum cases, people whose cases were denied, and others caught in between. The State Department is expected to begin answering that in the coming weeks.
