When a U.S. citizen marries a foreign national, the expectation is simple: you file the paperwork, wait your turn, and eventually begin your life together in America. But for thousands of American families, that promise has quietly evaporated. In early 2026, a series of overlapping executive actions have created an effective immigration blockade for spouses from dozens of countries—not through a single headline-grabbing ban, but through a layered system of administrative holds, expanded travel restrictions, and nationality-driven vetting .

The result is a growing population of American citizens legally married but indefinitely separated from their partners, their I-130 petitions frozen, their visa interviews scheduled but leading only to refusals, and their appeals to “family unity” falling on deaf ears .

Two Parallel Walls: The Travel Ban and the Public Benefits Pause

The current crisis stems from two distinct but overlapping policies. First, the presidential proclamation issued December 16, 2025, expanded the U.S. travel ban from 19 to 39 countries, effective January 1, 2026. This includes a “full suspension” of both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas for 19 nations—Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Haiti, Libya, Syria, and others—and a “partial suspension” blocking immigrant visas for an additional 20 countries .

Second, on January 21, 2026, the State Department implemented an indefinite pause on all immigrant visa issuances for nationals of 75 countries deemed at “high risk” of using public benefits. This list sweeps far broader than the travel ban, including nations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Brazil, Russia, and Egypt .

Crucially, these are not bans on applying—couples may still file petitions, pay fees, and attend interviews. They are bans on issuance. Applicants can complete every step of the multi-year process only to be told at the final moment that no visa will be printed .

What Changed: The Removal of Family Exceptions

The most devastating shift for American families is the elimination of categorical exceptions for immediate relatives. Under previous iterations of the travel ban, spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens were explicitly exempt. That is no longer the case. As of January 1, 2026, family-based immigrant visas—including IR-1/CR-1 spousal visas—are subject to full suspension for nationals of restricted countries .

This means a U.S. citizen sponsoring a spouse from Iran, Nigeria, or Pakistan faces the same legal barrier as an unrelated employment-based applicant. The government’s position, affirmed by the State Department, is that family separation alone does not constitute a sufficient hardship to warrant a National Interest Exception .

The Invisible Slowdown: Vetting as a Weapon

Beyond the formal bans, families from at least 19 “high-risk” countries are caught in what immigration attorneys call the “Great I-130 Slowdown.” Internal USCIS guidance (PM-602-0192) orders officers to hold benefit decisions for nationals of designated countries, routing cases to a new national-security vetting center in Atlanta for “continuous” re-screening .

These cases do not receive denials. They sit in “Case Was Received” status for months or years. Petitions that were already approved are sometimes reopened for “quality review.” Couples with clean records, no criminal history, and bona fide marriages are told their files are stuck in security checks with no end date .

The Human Toll and the Scale of the Crisis

David Bier, director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, estimates that the 75-country visa pause alone will block approximately 315,000 legal immigrants over the next year—nearly half of all legal immigration to the United States . Thousands of these are spouses of American citizens.

These are not distant strangers; they are husbands, wives, and the parents of American children. They are teachers, nurses, and software engineers. They are people who, under any prior administration, would already be here.

How to Search for Your Country’s Status

For families uncertain whether their spouse’s nationality is affected, determining current eligibility requires checking three separate government sources, as no single consolidated list exists. First, consult the State Department’s Immigrant Visa Processing Updates page, which maintains the official list of 75 countries subject to the public-benefits pause . Second, review the text of Presidential Proclamation of December 16, 2025, to determine whether your spouse’s country falls under full or partial travel ban suspension; law firm summaries from Fredrikson & Byron or ImmigraTrust Law provide accessible breakdowns of the 39-country list . Third, check the USCIS website for references to countries flagged under the PM-602-0192 vetting memo, though this list is not formally published and must be triangulated through attorney reports and community-sourced data . Dual nationals may still be eligible if they hold and travel on a passport from a non-restricted country . Because policies update every 180 days and litigation is ongoing, families should verify their status monthly through official .gov sources or consult qualified immigration counsel before filing new applications .