On December 2, 2025, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new policy memo directing officers to pause all asylum applications (Form I-589) regardless of the applicant’s country of origin. Additionally, USCIS were to pause all pending benefit requests where the individual was born or is a citizen of one of the 19 high-risk countries listed under Presidential Proclamation 10949 issued on June 4, 2025. Such benefits were to include applications for permanent residence, permanent residence card renewals, petitions to remove conditions on residence, travel-document applications, and petitions for a range of nonimmigrant statuses, such as H-1B, L-1, and O-1.
USCIS was also to review previously approved benefit requests for individuals from the high-risk countries if the individuals entered the U.S. on or after January 20, 2021. This review could involve interviews or re-interviews, identity verification, and other security and screening procedures.
On December 16, 2025, the White House issued a new proclamation adding to the list of 19 high-risk countries. On January 1, 2026, USCIS announced that the same requirement to pause adjudications and to review previously issued benefits extended to individuals who were born in or are citizens of any of the additional countries. Below is the complete list of countries, including those from the prior White House proclamation and the latest proclamation.
When does the policy take effect?
Immediately
What are the high-risk countries?
- Afghanistan
- Angola *
- Antigua and Barbuda *
- Benin *
- Burundi
- Burkina Faso*
- Burma (Myanmar)
- Chad
- Republic of the Congo
- Cote d’Ivoire *
- Cuba
- Dominica *
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Gabon *
- The Gambia *
- Haiti
- Iran
- Laos*
- Libya
- Malawi *
- Mali*
- Mauritania *
- Niger*
- Nigeria *
- Senegal *
- Sierra Leon*
- Somalia
- South Sudan*
- Sudan
- Syria*
- Tanzania *
- Togo
- Tonga *
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
- Yemen
- Palestinian Authority*
- Zambia *
- Zimbabwe *
(Countries with * are newly added.)
What are the practical implications?
Any individual with a pending asylum application — regardless of nationality — should expect a pause in adjudication.
An individual from one of the impacted countries who filed any immigration benefit request as described above should also expect the application to be on hold until further review.
An individual from one of the impacted countries, who already obtained approval for any immigration benefit request and entered the U.S. on or after January 20, 2021, may have their case be subject to review including possible interview or re-interview, identity verification, or other security-screening procedures. Due to the unpredictable changes, we do recommend contacting our team to discuss any upcoming international travels to minimize risks.
Will more countries be added to the list?
We have no reliable information regarding this at this time, but will continue to monitor this and provide alerts when we do.
The above information has been provided for educational purposes only. Please contact your Clark Lau LLC attorney to see how this may impact your circumstances. We will continue to monitor this late breaking news.