State Department Reports No Timeline to Fix 43,000 Stalled Visa Cases

The State Department told a federal judge that it still has not set a deadline for finishing its review of more than 43,000 visa applications affected by the 75-country immigrant visa freeze.

In a sworn status report filed September 8, the government provided a detailed account of how it would comply with the court order that vacated the immigrant visa freeze. The State Department confirmed it stopped enforcing the policy, but offered no specifics on how it would resume processing those cases. This submitted document fills in those details.

What did the update include?

The sworn status report clarified that the immigrant visa freeze affected more than 43,000 immigrant visa applications, which are now under the court's vacatur. Previously, the public did not know the exact number of cases affected.

In addition, the government's filing also established that:

• Consular staff must manually verify some refusals. They need to confirm the freeze was the sole reason a case was denied.
• The department set no completion date. Cases will move on a rolling, case-by-case basis instead of as a single batch.
• The department rescheduled immigrant-visa appointments worldwide. The delay, which runs through September 2026, gives officials more time to identify affected cases.
• Applicants may have to file additional paperwork. Depending on the case and how much time has passed, that could mean a new medical exam, an updated police certificate, or another interview.
• The Bureau of Consular Affairs rolled out four new training requirements on September 1. They include expanded managerial review of consular officers' decisions and mandatory training on public-charge analysis, and they apply to all immigrant-visa cases worldwide, not just the remanded ones.
• Consular officers now use a public-charge worksheet. In place since August 15, 2026, it helps them weigh public-charge inadmissibility “under the totality of the circumstances” when they reconsider remanded cases.

What does this sworn status update mean for foreign nationals affected?

Manifest immigration attorney Ana Gabriela Urizar says applicants whose visas were refused solely because of the vacated pause are technically back in line for a decision, but the government has not laid out an estimated timeline. "Someone in the 43,000 group could wait without hearing anything for weeks, while their file sits in the queue," she says.

To Urizar, the bigger question for many applicants is what standard officers will use. Because the public charge rule came after many of these backlogged cases were first filed, some cases could face additional scrutiny applicants did not anticipate at the time of filing. "If you haven't filed already, now's the time to talk to an immigration attorney," she says.

This is a developing story. We’ll continue to update this article as more information gets released.