THE ghosts of visa petitions past haunt those seeking the American dream as immigrants.
It’s scary enough that there are over 6 million immigrant visa applicants competing for 421,000 slots available, with over 720,000 added every year.
What could go wrong?
The pandemic years 2020–2021 happened. US President Donald Trump suspended processing and entry of legal immigrants into the US, creating a huge backlog of almost 500,000 applicants.
The backlog scare continues.
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.’s study shows the “post-pandemic backlog, which stood at approximately 422,954 documentarily qualified cases at the start of 2023, has been reducing slowly albeit evenly.”
“As of March 2024, the State Department reported a worldwide backlog of 326,415 documentarily qualified immigrant visa applicants awaiting interview scheduling. Seventy percent of immigrant visa posts were scheduling interviews within three months of a case becoming DQ. In FY 2023, posts issued 563,000 immigrant visas, which is 14 percent more than the prior year.”
Instead of calling to order, President Donald Trump issued proclamations suspending issuance of immigrant visas not just to nationals of 75 countries but to all immigrant visa applicants who may “pose a high statistical risk of using public welfare benefits.”
Nature joined in the attrition battle to prevent immigrants into landing on US shores, partnering with man-made wars that factored into suspension and/or closure of Embassy processing.
In early August, the US Embassy in Manila had already canceled all US citizen services and visa appointments scheduled, “due to the ongoing impact of heavy rainfall on embassy facilities and surrounding areas.”
Cleaning up the mess of visa cancellations. The State Department argues — pursuant to the president’s order — that consular officers and staff need training to determine who are likely to just rely on public funds for benefits as well as deep dive into scrutinizing the social media posts of all visa applicants — in the last five years prior to visa application — who may have been critical of US programs and policies.
Appointments canceled, tourist visa applicants exempted
In the days that followed, the Department of State (DOS) called missions around the world to keep canceling immigrant visa appointments in place “until staffers received new training in how to assess whether visa applicants could support themselves in the United States without relying on public benefits.”
US citizens and visa applicants who have scheduled appointments were told to wait for notices for the next appointment. For those “who have urgent scheduling concerns, they may call the embassy’s customer service center at (02) 8548-8223 for immediate assistance.”
Apologies extended ‘for the inconvenience’
“The US embassy’s visa appointment system is currently experiencing technical difficulties, and visa applicants may be unable to schedule an appointment. We are working diligently to address this issue, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Meanwhile, visa applicants must be ready “to list all social media usernames, handles, or identifiers for every platform they have used in the last 5 years... certify that the information in their visa application is true and correct before they sign and submit. Omitting social media information could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future visas.”
Court ruled pause policy illegal: On Aug. 21, 2026, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (Clinic) v. Rubio that “the blanket suspension of visa processing for nationals of 75 countries” was illegal and exceeded the Secretary of State’s authority.
Following the court’s order, the State Department announced on Aug. 28, 2026, that the pause of diversity visa issuance is no longer in effect.” Diversity Visa applicants (which do not include Filipinos) may continue to apply, attend interviews, and receive immigrant visas if otherwise eligible.
State of visa issuance – US Embassy Manila
Despite what is touted as compliance with the court order, there has been no update on whether the State Department’s “New training program on the matter of broader immigrant visa suspension for all immigrant visa applicants, which had been in place for months, has been completed” — and therefore, should not be a reason for continuing delay of immigrant visa processing.
At time of writing, the US Embassy website does not indicate that it has resumed processing of immigrant visas. Applicants for temporary and tourist visas apparently are not affected. Payment of visa fees and biometric processing at the offsite Visa Application Center (VAC) in Parañaque for all visa applicants continues, the required step before the actual consular interview.
Again, the official notice for those affected: “Visa applicants who have urgent scheduling concerns may call our customer service center at (02) 8548-8223 for immediate assistance. US citizens who need to reschedule their passport or notarial appointments should do so through the online appointment system. US citizens with scheduling concerns or other questions may contact the American Citizens Services (ACS) unit directly at ACSInfoManila@state.gov. In the case of any emergency involving a US citizen, please call (02) 5301-2000 and request to be connected to the officer on duty.”
The US State Department starts visa/consular operations on Oct. 1 of the current year and ends Sept. 30 of the following year. The figures in the accompanying table indicate the total number of visa issues for each category at the end of the fiscal year. The latest report issued by the DOS is in February this year, showing drastic reductions in visa issuance.
Notes/source: State Department Statistics:
– Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act set family-sponsored preference immigrants at 226,000; employment-based preference immigrants, 140,000. The per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7 percent of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2 percent, or 7,320.
– The immediate relatives of US citizens are exempt from the per-country limits, but the US Embassy still has to use staffing, time and resources to process these visas: CR1, CR2, IR1, IR2 and IR5.
– The specified period’s total includes all other visas. For illustration purposes only, the most common Family and Employment-preference categories are listed.
How many more are waiting for their immigrant visas?
Based on the last DOS report (November 2023), there were 3,773,401 applicants in the family-based categories and 260,660 in the employment-based groups for a combined total of 4,034,061.
The first three countries with the highest number of visa applicants waiting are Mexico — 1,190,444; India — 290,942; and the Philippines — 288,294.
Each applicant is not only competing with those in the same category from their own country but also with other applicants worldwide for the overall total.
Another speed bump: The USCIS receives more than 3,000 visa sponsorships every day — more than 90 percent of which are approved — forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC) and to the over 4 million already waiting almost three years ago.
The yearly average of 720,000 approved petitions would have added another 2.1 million more NVC cases — now logically over 6 million immigrant visa dreamers competing for the limited immigrant visas available when normal visa processing resumes.
To avoid the nightmare of Don Street — don’t sleep. Or dream of other visa options.