US visa applicants who fear harm at home will now be denied travel documents

The United States government has introduced sweeping new visa screening rules that would effectively bar persecuted individuals from obtaining US travel documents before they ever reach American soil. A State Department cable, reviewed independently by the Washington Post and the Guardian, instructs consular officers at every US embassy and consulate across the world to ask visa applicants whether they fear returning to their home country and to reject those who say that they do.

Applicants must respond verbally with a "no" to both questions for the consular officer to proceed with visa issuance. Those who answer "yes" or decline to respond face near-certain denial of their travel documents.

The cable states that "an applicant's fear of returning to his or her country of nationality or permanent residence calls into question an applicant's intended purpose of travel and immigrant intent at the time of visa application."

It was not immediately clear when asylum processing would resume, and the administration has signalled its intention to challenge the ruling on appeal.

The State Department issued nearly 11 million nonimmigrant visas in fiscal year 2024. The nonimmigrant visa category covers a wide range of travellers, from tourists and university students to H-1B technology workers, seasonal agricultural labourers and business executives.

Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, said the rules represent a fundamental abandonment of American values around protection. "They're trying to systematically demolish any means by which a persecuted person could seek protection and safety in the United States," he said.

Konyndyk added: "What's really striking about this is how it just completely abandons any pretence that the US cares about protection against persecution. You're explicitly asking someone: 'Are you being persecuted in your country?' And if they say 'yes,' the US government's official answer is: 'Okay, stay there.'"

He argued that had such vetting procedures been in place in previous decades, they would have barred Iranians fleeing the revolution in the 1970s, Soviet dissidents during the Cold War and German Jews in the 1930s. "A lot of people would've been left out by this," he said.

The policy also creates a risk of perjury. An applicant who genuinely fears returning home but answers "no" to secure a visa has made a material misrepresentation to a federal officer, a criminal offence carrying a permanent bar from the United States. The cable does not explicitly state what would happen to a visa holder who later applied for asylum after having denied fearing harm, but such a scenario could expose the applicant to allegations of visa fraud and potential deportation.

The Trump administration has pursued a series of measures to reduce both legal and irregular immigration. These include a travel ban affecting citizens of 39 countries, cuts to student and temporary worker visas, and the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of migrants from 13 countries. The number of monthly asylum seekers at the southwest border fell from nearly 40,000 in December 2024 to just 26 in February 2025, the month after Trump took office, according to an analysis by David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case challenging the administration's attempt to withdraw TPS for 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrants.

The cable also cross-references classified operational guidance held on internal State Department systems, meaning the full scope of the new policy remains unknown outside the department.

The department also said: "As Secretary Rubio has repeatedly made clear, a US visa is a privilege, not a right. Individuals who do not intend to comply with our laws, including leaving the United States before the end of their authorised period of stay, should not apply for a visa."