December 9, 2025
On November 27, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new policy guidance directing officers to consider “relevant country-specific facts and circumstances such as those outlined in Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10949,” during adjudications of benefit requests. PP 10949 restricts the entry of citizens of 19 countries into the U.S.: Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Burundi, Chad, Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
On December 2, 2025, USCIS issued additional guidance imposing, among others, “[…] a hold on pending benefit requests for aliens from countries listed in [PP 10949].” In practical terms, this means that USCIS will pause adjudication of pending petitions for citizens of these 19 countries until the hold is ended by the USCIS Director.
This pause may delay decisions on benefit requests, such as H-1B petitions or F-1 OPT applications, for citizens of these 19 countries. However, petitions and applications can still be filed, and they may still be approved once adjudications resume.
It is currently unclear whether USCIS will also pause the adjudication of all benefit requests for individuals who are dual nationals with citizenship from one of the 19 countries and another country.
Please note that the current immigration status and already approved employment authorization of citizens of these 19 countries are not affected by this USCIS guidance. IFSS will continue filing immigration petitions for individuals from the affected countries.
If you are a citizen of one of the affected countries and have questions, please reach out to International Faculty and Staff Services or International Student Services.
We will continue to monitor developments and will update this announcement as needed.
Review our announcement from June 2025 on U.S. Travel Entry Restrictions for 19 Countries.