USCIS Pauses Benefit Requests for Nationals From ‘High-Risk’ Countries and Halts Asylum Adjudications

On December 2, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memorandum directing the agency to place on hold all benefit requests for individuals from one of the nineteen countries of birth or countries of citizenship identified in the most recent travel ban, as well as all applications for asylum and withholding of removal (regardless of national origin). The memorandum also instructs USCIS to conduct a comprehensive re-review of approved benefit requests for individuals from the “high-risk” countries who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021.