The United States issued about a quarter of a million fewer visas in the first eight months of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, as the Trump Administration introduced policies that have reshaped who comes to the US legally. From January to August 2025, the State Department approved 11% fewer permanent resident and temporary visas compared with the same period a year before, according to State Department data released in early March. These visas are generally issued for students, workers, and family members of citizens and legal residents. The 11% drop doesn’t include tourist visas, which also fell during the same period. India and China bore the brunt of the visa declines. The US issued many fewer temporary visas to international students, cultural exchange visitors, and fiances and spouses of US citizens from those countries and beyond. Visa approvals for permanent residency - known as green cards - also declined, with the largest drops in visas for workers, certain relatives, and Iraqi and Afghan nationals who worked with the US military. Most nations sent fewer immigrants to the US. In a group of 61 countries with at least 5000 visa approvals from January to August 2024, just seven received more visas in 2025 than the year before. The Trump Administration’s travel ban, a pause on student visa interviews and heightened vetting requirements have all played a role in dampening visa figures. Plus, fewer State Department workers were available to process visas because of federal government cuts. The preliminary visa data helps paint a fuller picture of immigration declines in the US. For the first time in at least half a century, more immigrants left the country than entered last year, according to estimates released by Brookings Institution. That contributed to weaker job creation in recent months, as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell noted last week. “There’s no policy more important to the present and future of the US economy than immigration,” said Harvard University professor Jason Furman, who served as a top economist in the Obama administration. “When we restrict immigration, we don’t just shortchange labour force growth today, we also reduce innovation and productivity growth in the future.” In a statement to the Washington Post, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said: “A visa is a privilege, not a right. Unlike the Biden administration, President Trump is not willing to compromise the safety of American citizens to allow mass migration of unvetted foreign nationals into our country.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that “President Trump was elected with a resounding mandate to put American citizens first and every policy decision he’s made has reflected that priority”. Visas for Chinese and Indian nationals fell by about 84,000 compared with the same period in 2024, largely reflecting a drop-off in international students and workers from those countries. Visas for Afghan and Cuban nationals also dropped sharply, reflecting the Trump Administration’s travel ban, which began in June. Visas also fell by more than 10,000 for citizens of the Philippines and Vietnam. In June, the Administration enacted a travel ban on 19 countries - mostly majority-Muslim countries and those with a contentious relationship with the US, such as Cuba. Around that time, the State Department also paused student and exchange visitor visa interviews for three weeks, before ordering the vetting of social media accounts for all those seeking visas. The Trump Administration began eliminating thousands of positions from the State Department, describing the reductions as an effort to root out “bloat” and inefficiency. Combined with expanded vetting requirements, staffing reductions resulted in fewer consular appointments and longer waiting times at certain high-demand consulates. It’s not clear exactly how much the Trump Administration’s policies and heightened immigration enforcement have direct...