If you or a family member had an immigrant visa interview scheduled at a U.S. consulate, you may have received an email in late August telling you the appointment was canceled or rescheduled — with no explanation and no new date. You are not alone, and it does not mean your case was denied.
Since early August 2026, the U.S. Department of State has been running a worldwide training program for consular officers on “public charge” screening. Immigrant visa interviews have been postponed at posts around the world while that training takes place. Below is a timeline of what has been reported, what the government has confirmed, and what is still unknown as of mid-September 2026.
First, a distinction that matters
Two separate things have been happening at the same time, and most news coverage has blurred them together:
- The 75-country immigrant visa suspension. A policy based on nationality, in effect from January 21, 2026 until a federal court struck it down on August 21, 2026.
- The worldwide public charge training pause. Not based on nationality. It applies to every U.S. consulate. It is still in effect, with no announced end date.
The court ruling ended the first. It did not end the second.
This distinction is important for our clients. If you are a Mexican national processing at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, for example, you were never covered by the 75-country policy — so the court victories you may be seeing celebrated on social media do not change anything about your case. What affects you is the training pause and the tougher public charge screening waiting on the other side of it.
The timeline
August 2026 — Worldwide officer training quietly begins
According to Reuters, the State Department launched a global training initiative for consular officers in August, focused on how to judge whether an applicant is likely to become dependent on public benefits after arriving. At most posts, the training was expected to run roughly a week. There was no public announcement at the time.
August 21, 2026 — A federal court strikes down the 75-country suspension
Judge Jeannette Vargas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated the policy that had suspended immigrant visa issuance to nationals of 75 countries, in a case brought by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. In a 61-page decision, the court held the policy was contrary to law and went beyond the Secretary of State’s authority. Under that policy, officers had been directed to refuse visas under Section 221(g) based on nationality alone, even when an individualized look at the applicant would not have supported a public charge finding.
Around August 23–24, 2026 — Cancellation emails start arriving
Applicants began posting the notices they had received. Reported posts included Ciudad Juárez, Santo Domingo, Guatemala City, Manila, Nairobi, Hong Kong, Seoul, Ankara, and Dhaka. The messages generally said the appointment had been rescheduled, instructed the applicant not to come to the consular section, and told them to wait for an email with a new date. No reason was given.
August 25, 2026 — The State Department confirms the pause
A State Department official publicly confirmed the pause, describing it as in-depth training meant to make sure applicants are evaluated consistently at every post. The official told the Associated Press that the pause had begun in August and was not expected to last beyond early to mid-September. No firm restart date was announced then — and none has been announced since.
August 26, 2026 — Attorneys report cancellations globally
The American Immigration Lawyers Association reported that it had received notice of immigrant visa interview cancellations at consulates across the globe. Applicants who had completed security vetting and done everything the government asked of them were being sent home without a new date.
September 10, 2026 — The State Department formally rescinds the country-based pauses
The State Department sent a cable to embassies and consulates worldwide stating that the pauses on immigrant and Diversity Visa issuance were no longer in effect. Posts were told to identify cases that had been refused under Section 221(g) solely because of those pauses and review them again —immigrant visa cases refused on or after January 21, 2026, reviewed in the order they were refused.
Officers must first remove the pause-based refusal, then assess the applicant’s eligibility on the merits. They may write to applicants asking for an updated medical exam, missing civil or financial documents, information for additional background checks, or a new in-person interview. A case can still be refused — but any new refusal has to name a specific, individual reason, not the pause.
September 18, 2026 — A new public charge rule takes effect for adjustment of status
A new Department of Homeland Security public charge framework takes effect for adjustment of status applications filed with USCIS. The State Department has not formally said the consular officer training is preparation for it. But consular policy on public charge generally tracks DHS policy, and the timing is difficult to ignore. We covered the new rule in detail in a separate blog post:
Big changes are coming to the Green Card process
Who this reaches — and who it does not
The training pause reaches you if your case is being processed at a U.S. consulate abroad. That includes:
- Family-based immigrant visa applicants in every category — immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, parents, unmarried children under 21) and the F1 through F4 preference categories.
- Employment-based immigrant visa applicants in EB-1 through EB-5 who are processing at a consulate rather than adjusting status inside the United States.
- Diversity Visa selectees with interviews scheduled abroad.
It does not directly reach:
- Adjustment of status applicants inside the United States. USCIS has not announced any comparable pause on Form I-485 adjudications. The broader policy environment still matters for your case, but this pause does not stop it.
- Nonimmigrant visa applicants in most categories — tourist, business, student, and most temporary work visas. Some indirect delay is possible because the training affects consular staffing generally.
- People who already hold a valid immigrant visa or a green card. The pause affects new visa issuance, not the entry of people who already have a visa in hand.
What you can do while you wait
- Do not go to the consulate again until they request it. If the consulate needs something from you, it will contact you directly. Showing up without an appointment does not help and can create problems.
- Watch your email, including the spam and junk folders. Check every email address given during the application process — yours, your attorney’s, and your petitioner’s.
- Check expiration dates now. Medical exams, police certificates, and other civil documents expire.
- Keep financial evidence current and complete. Sponsor tax returns, employment verification, and the Affidavit of Support should be up to date. Screening after this training is expected to be more demanding, not less.
- Do not assume a canceled interview means a denial. A canceled or postponed interview is a scheduling problem. Your underlying petition has not been canceled.
- Do not expect calling the consulate to speed things up. During a rollout like this, inquiries rarely accelerate a case and can occasionally confuse the file.
What we still do not know
- When immigrant visa interviews will resume normally worldwide. The department has never announced a restart date.
- How long the backlog will take to clear. Posts that were already slow before August will likely be slower after, and there is no reliable public data on which posts fall into which group.
- What is actually in the training. The curriculum has not been released.
How aggressively officers will apply the standard once they return to the interview window. A mandatory worldwide training is a strong signal that the department wants public charge applied more consistently — and likely more strictly — at every post.