The State Department has quietly restarted immigrant visa processing at its missions in Poland and Hungary while leaving the same processing paused for applicants nearly everywhere else, according to reporting published September 8, 2026. The decision to prioritize those two posts came from the White House, and the State Department declined to explain why those countries were chosen.
The pause being lifted for Poland and Hungary is a global one. On August 25, the State Department publicly acknowledged that it had suspended immigrant visa appointments worldwide, saying the freeze would stay in place until consular staff completed new training on how to assess whether a visa applicant can support themselves in the United States without relying on public benefits — the “public charge” standard. Appointments were initially rescheduled through August 31, but that date has come and gone for most posts.
The global pause followed a separate legal defeat. In January 2026, the State Department stopped issuing immigrant visas to nationals of 75 countries. On August 21, a federal judge struck that policy down as unlawful. Rather than simply resuming issuance, the department imposed the worldwide public charge training pause days later — and it is that second, broader freeze that Poland and Hungary have now been released from.
For everyone else, the wait continues with no announced end date. Nationals of countries including Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Bosnia, Albania, Pakistan and Bangladesh remain affected, and applicants from India, Peru and the United Kingdom have reported appointment cancellations running through September. The structure of the training program suggests the delay could stretch for months: each mission is expected to self-train using materials sent from Washington, after which a consular officer must physically visit the post to certify that the training was completed. That is a slow, sequential process across hundreds of posts.
What this means practically: if you have an approved I-130 or I-140 and your case has moved to the National Visa Center for consular processing, your interview timing now depends heavily on which embassy you are assigned to rather than on your priority date alone. Applicants should not assume an announced pause has ended at their post — the State Department’s own guidance is that “whenever there are updated instructions for visa applicants or changes to visa interview appointments, embassies and consulates communicate this information directly to visa applicants.” Check your post’s website and your email, keep your documents current so you can take a short-notice appointment, and be aware that adjustment of status inside the United States is not affected by this consular pause.
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Source: Reddit r/immigration