The State Department is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreign nationals who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the United States, according to State Department documents obtained by the Associated Press and two U.S. officials. The report was published Aug. 24, 2026.
If carried out, it would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history.
What is planned
The action would target B-1 and B-2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought or are now seeking asylum. B-1 visas are issued for business travel; B-2 visas cover tourism, family visits and medical care. The State Department is expected to announce the revocations in the coming weeks, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, unless the plan is challenged or revised first.
What it would and would not do
Revocation of a visa is not, by itself, a removal order. According to the AP’s reporting, the revocations would not necessarily result in immediate deportation. Most people with asylum cases currently pending would be recategorized — losing their status as business or tourism travelers while their asylum claims continue.
The practical consequences still matter. A revoked B-1 or B-2 visa cannot be used to re-enter the United States, so anyone in this group who travels abroad would need a new visa to return. Visa revocation also commonly surfaces in later adjudications and consular interviews as an adverse factor that has to be explained.
How this differs from the revocations already announced
Earlier in August, the State Department announced it had revoked more than 175,000 visas since January 2025, with most of those revocations following law enforcement encounters — assault, DUI, theft and drug offenses were cited as leading causes. Those were individualized revocations tied to specific conduct.
What is described in the new documents is different in kind: a category-wide revocation keyed to a single fact — that the visa holder filed for asylum — rather than to any individual finding about the person. That structural difference is why the AP reports the move would likely face legal challenges. Similar categorical actions this year have not fared well in court; a federal judge vacated the State Department’s 75-country immigrant visa ban on Aug. 21, holding in part that inadmissibility grounds generally must be assessed on an applicant’s individual circumstances rather than by category.
Who should pay attention
This is a nonimmigrant visa action and does not directly affect employment-based petitions such as EB-2 NIW, EB-1A or H-1B. It is most relevant to anyone currently in the United States on a B-1 or B-2 visa with a pending or planned asylum application, and to families whose visiting relatives hold B visas issued since 2016 and have asylum filings on record. Nothing has been formally announced yet — the reporting describes internal documents and an expected announcement, not a published action.
Need help with your immigration petition? Visit QuickFiling.us for AI-guided NIW and EB-1A petition preparation.
Source: Reddit r/USCIS