The Biden administration has failed to win a reprieve in its bid to keep alive a State Department policy that halted immigrant-visa issuances for nationals of 75 countries. On September 27, U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas denied the government’s motion to stay her earlier ruling in Catholic Legal Immigration Network v. Rubio that found the blanket suspension unlawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act’s bar on nationality discrimination. The contested policy—announced in a January 14, 2026 cable—ordered consulates worldwide to stop issuing immigrant visas to applicants whose passports came from a State Department list of “high-risk” countries unless they cleared additional security reviews that, critics said, were impossible to complete. Tens of thousands of family- and employment-based applicants were left in limbo despite having met every statutory requirement. Judge Vargas rejected government arguments that consular non-reviewability shielded the policy from court scrutiny, holding that plaintiffs challenged a department-wide directive, not individual visa refusals. She also dismissed claims of administrative chaos, noting that any adjudicatory delays stem from the department’s own choices. Unless the Second Circuit grants a stay, consulates must now resume processing affected cases. For multinational employers and relocation teams, the ruling means cases stuck since January can finally move forward. Companies should prepare for short-notice medical exams and re-issued police certificates for applicants whose documents have expired, and should expect staggered interview rescheduling as posts race to meet year-end visa-number deadlines. The government is widely expected to appeal, but practitioners believe a stay from the appellate court is unlikely given the strong statutory language. Mobility managers should consider accelerating immigrant-visa petitions for critical talent from the affected countries before the government devises a replacement security policy.
Source: NepYork
