US visas of asylum applicants face revocation

The US government plans to revoke visas held by foreigners who entered the country for tourism or business and then applied for asylum, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Tuesday.

Pigott said the State Department is working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify and revoke the visas of people who, the administration says, arrived as temporary visitors but sought to stay permanently through asylum applications.

“Obtaining a visa in order to seek asylum is fraud -- which is grounds for visa revocation,” Pigott said.

The White House suggested in a post on X that “up to two hundred thousand visas” would be affected and called it the “largest mass visa revocation in history.” The State Department neither confirmed nor denied that number. Pigott said the number of revocations “remains dynamic” and would be handled on a rolling basis.

The move is part of President Donald Trump's wider effort to reduce immigration into the United States. Earlier this month, the State Department said that since Trump returned to power in January 2025, about 175,000 foreigners had their US visas revoked on grounds including criminal offences and praising the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

Some administration immigration measures have faced court challenges. Last Friday, a federal judge struck down a government ban on visas for nationals from 75 countries who wish to settle in the United States indefinitely.