The US Department of State plans to revoke B-1 and B-2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 for people who have previously sought asylum or are now seeking asylum in the United States, a move that could affect up to 200,000 people. The visas in question are the business and tourism permits many travelers use to enter the US temporarily.
Tommy Pigott said the target is foreigners who came to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors and then filed for asylum to stay permanently. That puts a new and far broader pressure point on a visa category that depends on the promise that the holder will leave. Applicants for B-1 or B-2 business or tourist visas are asked to confirm they will not seek asylum in the US and must provide proof that they intend to return home, making the planned revocations a direct challenge to the way the system is supposed to work.
The, citing State Department documents and two US officials, reported the scale estimate of up to 200,000 affected people. The move is part of Donald Trump's broader immigration crackdown in his second term, which has already included visa and green card revocations, aggressive deportation efforts and limits on birthright citizenship. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order on birthright citizenship, and this month he signed another order aimed at birth tourism and broadened some categories that can make babies ineligible for citizenship.
The administration has been moving quickly on visas. This month, the State Department revoked more than 175,000 visas held by foreign nationals, and the Trump administration also suspended new visas to citizens of 75 countries. Last week, a federal judge struck down that suspension policy. Against that backdrop, the new plan is not just another immigration step; it is a test of how far the government can go in using the visa system as a blunt enforcement tool.
The unresolved question is how the State Department will identify every affected holder across a ten-year issuance window and whether any exception or appeal path will be offered. If the revocations go ahead as described, they could amount to one of the largest single mass visa actions in US history. That is why the case is likely to matter well beyond the people named in it, including those who have already spent money and built plans around a visa they thought still stood.
