The United States is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 people who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum, according to State Department documents obtained by the Associated Press and two US officials. If carried out, it would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in American history.
The action targets B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought asylum. It is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, and is widely expected to face legal challenge.
What a B1 or B2 visa is
B1 visas are issued for business travel; B2 visas for tourism, family visits or medical treatment. Both are non-immigrant visas, meaning the holder states an intention to return home.
That is the pivot of the administration’s argument. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the department was working with DHS to identify and revoke the visas of people who entered claiming to be short-term visitors and then filed for asylum in order to remain permanently. Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau wrote that people are fed up with bogus asylum claims and that asylum was not meant to be a loophole around immigration law, citing a Colombian national who arrived on a tourist visa in 2015 and later applied.
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The argument on the other side
Immigration lawyers and refugee organisations make a structural objection. Arriving lawfully on a visitor visa and then claiming asylum is not, in itself, a misuse of the system; it is one of the few ways to reach a country and apply without an irregular crossing. Circumstances also change after arrival — a coup, a war, or a targeted prosecution at home can turn a returning visitor into a refugee.
Under both US law and the 1951 Refugee Convention, the merits of an asylum claim are decided on the facts of the individual case, not on the visa category the applicant travelled on. Whether a particular claim is well-founded is exactly what the adjudication is for.
What revocation does and does not do
Revoking a visa does not automatically deport anyone, and it does not by itself terminate a pending asylum application. A visa is permission to travel to a port of entry; once someone is inside the country, their status is governed by other rules.
What it does change is practical exposure. It removes the lawful status a person may have been relying on while waiting, can make them removable, and typically ends the ability to leave and return. For someone with a claim pending for years — a common situation in a backlogged system — that is a substantial shift.
It sits alongside other recent measures: current B1 and B2 applicants are now asked to affirm that they will not apply for asylum and to demonstrate they intend to return home, and last month the administration began restricting asylum seekers’ access to interviews with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, routing cases instead into immigration court for removal proceedings. The State Department has revoked roughly 175,000 visas since last year on other grounds.
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The likely legal fight
Visa revocation is an area where the executive branch holds unusually broad discretion, and courts have historically been reluctant to review individual consular decisions. The challenge, if it comes, is more likely to focus on the blanket character of the action — revoking a class of visas by category rather than assessing individuals — and on due process for people with claims already pending.
It is also worth noting what is not yet known. The documents do not establish how many of the roughly 200,000 have actually sought asylum, when the revocations would take effect, or whether people with claims already granted are included. Until the announcement is made, this is a reported plan rather than a policy in force.
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