r/i130_75CountryPause

My wife date finally came. Our interview was at the US/ Guatemala embassy and this was a first stage document review.

Things went well and smooth. they asked for her documentation and also my divorce decree from a previous marriage. And we were asked to come back by 7am tomorrow.

They said our baby wasn’t allowed. Shes 9 months old and they said babies are a distraction. So that’s kinda odd that state on their site that our baby would be allowed but now we have to make plans with her family (3 hours from the embassy) and then make a 3am drive to the capital. sucks.

Not seeing any other update, Im expecting to get verbal approval and a refusal notice. Kinda crazy they make you go through this process, every step, just to be refused anyway.

I have a question , my dad already has a visa tourist 10 years he came to visit me once at USA ,I applied for a green card form him when he was in Morocco , he had his interview on 10 February and because of the pause they didn’t issue his visa , my question is can he come visit me in USA with that visa tourist that he has and stay with me less than 6 months until the pause is lifted ?? Thank you

Has anybody looked at applying for a K-3 visa?
My husband is on the pause list. We’re not living in america right now but the next big step in my career is going to have me go to the states. The K-3 last for 2 years. Of course the goal is to get a green card…. But is this loop hole something that is possible or am I google detective getting my hopes up too much??

I’m posting below the links for all lawsuits in case someone wants to keep track of them:

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72304355/storie-v-trump/
Red Eagle

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72218277/catholic-legal-immigration-network-inc-v-rubio/
CLINIC

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72419132/masood-v-united-states-department-of-state/
IMMpact

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73193142/doe-v-united-states-department-of-state/
McBean

How can i file individual lawsuit? Any lawyers and how much cost and how long? #75countryvisapause

There was a woman telling her husband:

“We don’t talk like we used to anymore. You’re not as attentive or emotionally present as before.”

But this couple has gone three and a half years without seeing each other physically because of immigration procedures. The husband is in Africa, the wife is in the United States, and for all this time their relationship has mostly depended on phone calls and video chats.

The husband explains that after three and a half years without seeing each other, the distance naturally starts to emotionally drain the relationship and the communication. He also says that no video call can fully replace physical presence, shared moments, and spending real time together as a couple.

In your opinion, what advice would you give to the wife? And what advice would you give to the husband?

Do you think a couple can go that long without seeing each other and not be emotionally affected?

Hi everyone,

I have a question about the CLINIC v. Rubio case.

Some people are saying Judge Vargas usually takes around 2 months to issue a decision after briefing is complete. Is this an official timeline or just based on her past cases?

Also, do we realistically expect a decision in June, or could it still take longer than that?

I’m trying to understand whether “2 months” is actually something reliable, or just community speculation.

Thanks.

Yesterday, I was walking home after my work and I had a panic attack because I kept thinking the worst possible scenarios of the pause that is in place for immigrant visas. I had to sit on the side of pavement, and was unable to walk for a while.

When the pause was new, I was very optimistic and very hopeful that it won’t be for like (like come on 75 countries? Families? No way it will extend more than 3 months) but here we are. It will be almost 4 months on 21st May (in 3 days).

I have lost all hope, I don’t know why the judge is taking so much time on making a decision (like come on this cause is surely important than everything else). I feel scared all the time with “ what ifs” and i worry for my elder parents in my home country who are old and alone. I have no siblings in my home country so I can’t wait for them to be here. Everything just feels so unfair especially when the pause is totally unjust and there are countries with worse statistics not part of the pause. This is all diplomatic and politically motivated.

I used to give people hope that the pause will be lifted soon but now I have no words for anyone and I am completely hopeless. It has taken a serious toll on my mental health. I am just so sick and tired of this!

I am sorry for ranting and demotivating but I wanted to share my feelings here and maybe someone will give me some positive words. There is no one in my real life who is going through this so I keep coming back to this group for motivation because I see so many families separated (kids, spouses, parents, siblings).

Should i contact the embassy? We are already having a joint sponsor with 100.000$ per year what should i do they can give an exception bcs of my wife issue ?

Has anybody heard of ANY exceptions for paused countries ? Military, Financially, medical, children… ANYTHING at all?

I've been in the EB2 process for almost three years, and I've been following the interview questions in a Brazilian group I'm in.

Basically, people attend the interview and share the process with the group so everyone can be prepared for their own interviews.

Recently, the Rio officers have been asking questions about health care, income, and how much money the applicant has saved to start a new life in the US. In some cases, they also ask whether the applicant has researched how much they expect to spend monthly on health care plans.

I'm just sharing this to check whether, in your countries, they're also asking this type of question for EB cases. This wasn't a question before this pause for EB cases, or even at the beginning of the pause at the Rio de Janeiro consulate. Since last month, it looks like they've been asking about these topics during the interview. For example, in my interview in February, I wasn't asked about income or health care, just the normal questions about my academic background and professional experience.

Even if we assumed the government's data on past aid usage is accurate, the logic behind the policy is fundamentally broken and explicitly un-American.

By penalizing millions of individuals based entirely on where they were born, this policy clashes directly with core U.S. constitutional principles:

• The Anti-Stereotyping Principle (Fifth Amendment Due Process): Under the U.S. Constitution, the government is strictly forbidden from using group identity as a proxy for individual behavior. True due process requires individual adjudication. Assuming a future applicant will require public aid solely because a different person from their home country did in the past is the exact definition of arbitrary discrimination.
• The Principle of Individual Liberty: The American legal foundation is built on individual accountability, not inherited group guilt. A potential future U.S. citizen cannot legally or morally have their potential dictated by the past actions of strangers who happen to share their passport.
• The Presumption of Innocence and Merit: Evaluating an applicant based on predictive "group risk" completely erases their personal education, unique skills, and financial independence.

How can we call this a system of justice when individual evaluation is completely replaced by a blanket ban based entirely on nationality?

I believe the AR is due today for the Masood case. anyone knows if it’s up yet? will this be made available to the public or plaintiffs only? what should we expect? anything different than what was provided in Clinics and Red Eagles lawsuit ?

i have waited 2 years for my spouse visa .. i gave interview at Islamabad embassy and they said u r in administration process cox we need more marriage photos just courier us your photos and passport and in the meanwhile pause happened.. Now my dubai visa is expiring and im not taking any action due to the fear of being cancelled by the embassy..

please guide me if anyone knows what should i do .. i waited 6 months and now my UAE visa is expiring 😭😭😭should i request my passport back and if i do what will b the effect on my case status .. i have been calling embassy fof days but they don’t answer 😭😭😭

Hey everyone,

I wanted to start a discussion based on some positive speculation regarding the current 75-country visa pause. I know there’s a lot of uncertainty and frustration around it, but I’m trying to look at it from a more hopeful angle.

What’s your positive take on this? Do you think we’re closer to early movement, or is this more of a long-term hold?

Would be good to hear different viewpoints from others going through the same uncertainty.

This is a genuine question. Not political. Not ideological. Just human.

How are we talking about hundreds of thousands of affected people and still nobody seems able to create enough noise? Does nobody know someone who knows someone? Someone with enough reach to bring this to CNN, Fox News, major podcasts, senators, journalists, or public figures willing to expose what is happening and pressure for answers?

Nobody has a college friend, a former coworker, a client, an investor, a lawyer, a journalist, or someone politically connected who can simply pick up the phone and help amplify this?

I honestly struggle to understand that.

If I personally had that kind of access, I would absolutely use it.

In my own country, people are already trying to speak with congressmen and senators who could at least help elevate these concerns through diplomatic or institutional channels toward the U.S. government. And even that feels small compared to what could happen if more Americans, especially influential ones with media reach and political access, decided to speak publicly about this issue.

How do we still not have stronger coordination, media attention, public pressure, senators actively discussing this, or influential people amplifying these stories? Among all these applicants, families, employers, attorneys, researchers, founders, and even American citizens directly impacted by this system, how is there still no unified movement strong enough to force visibility at a national level?

What honestly surprises me the most is not even the policy itself, but how fragmented everyone still is. We are talking about thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people affected in different ways. Families separated from loved ones, children away from parents, researchers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, highly skilled professionals, people with approved cases stuck in limbo, financial losses, emotional exhaustion, careers paused, lives completely reorganized around immigration timelines.

Every group has its own valid reasons and its own side to defend. Families separated from parents and mothers, kids growing up away from one of their parents, researchers and entrepreneurs who literally put their lives on hold, people forced to completely change their plans, financial losses, sick family members far away from loved ones, and many others who were extremely close to finally moving forward and depended on this process.

At the end of the day, everyone has a fair point. And honestly, from another perspective, family based visas are statistically much more associated with potential public charge concerns, while Employment Based, as EB1 and EB2 cases are usually tied to national interest, not bias, just data, and they bring specialized skills, advanced qualifications, high income potential, and economic contribution. So applying the same “public charge” logic across all categories doesn’t really make much sense.

Yesterday, I was walking home after my work and I had a panic attack because I kept thinking the worst possible scenarios of the pause that is in place for immigrant visas. I had to sit on the side of pavement, and was unable to walk for a while.

When the pause was new, I was very optimistic and very hopeful that it won’t be for like (like come on 75 countries? Families? No way it will extend more than 3 months) but here we are. It will be almost 4 months on 21st May (in 3 days).

I have lost all hope, I don’t know why the judge is taking so much time on making a decision (like come on this cause is surely important than everything else). I feel scared all the time with “ what ifs” and i worry for my elder parents in my home country who are old and alone. I have no siblings in my home country so I can’t wait for them to be here. Everything just feels so unfair especially when the pause is totally unjust and there are countries with worse statistics not part of the pause. This is all diplomatic and politically motivated.

I used to give people hope that the pause will be lifted soon but now I have no words for anyone and I am completely hopeless. It has taken a serious toll on my mental health. I am just so sick and tired of this!

I am sorry for ranting and demotivating but I wanted to share my feelings here and maybe someone will give me some positive words. There is no one in my real life who is going through this so I keep coming back to this group for motivation because I see so many families separated (kids, spouses, parents, siblings).

There have been updates on Clinic vs Rubio on court listener but no new enteries? Any ideas what those updates were about?

Hello everyone,
I am reaching out to the community of PhD holders and high-impact researchers (EB-1A, EB-1B, and EB-2 NIW) who are currently caught in the indefinite 75-country immigrant visa pause that took effect on January 21, 2026.
As of mid-May 2026, many of us have passed our interviews (like myself in Islamabad) only to be handed a 221(g) "yellow slip" citing both technical TAL reviews and the broader policy pause. While we wait in administrative limbo, our research various in fields like analytical chemistry, AI, materials science, and environmental remediation—work vital to U.S. national interests—remains stalled.
The Blueprint for a Thaw:
We have just seen a major breakthrough. In early May 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS officially lifted the freeze for foreign-trained physicians.This wasn't accidental; it was the result of intense lobbying by nearly 20 medical associations warning of a national healthcare crisis.
Our Goal:
It is time for the scientific community to demand a similar "PhD/STEM Research Exception." If the U.S. can exempt doctors to protect healthcare, it must exempt elite researchers to protect its technological edge. We need to collectively reach out to organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and other major tech coalitions to make our case.
Call to Action:

1. Connect: If you are a PhD researcher from one of the 75 affected countries (Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, etc.) currently stuck in AP or the policy pause, please comment below with your field of expertise.
2. Coordinate: We need to compile data on how many high-impact researchers are currently sidelined. This will be our evidence for a "National Interest" push to the State Department.
3. WhatsApp Group: I am looking to join or start a dedicated WhatsApp/Telegram group for high-skill researchers in this specific situation (similar to the general Islamabad AP groups) to share updates and template letters for advocacy.
   Please link any existing groups below or DM me to start a new one. We cannot wait for an indefinite "review" to end—we must advocate for our own thaw!