The Trump administration is preparing a plan to revoke the business and tourism visas of immigrants seeking asylum, a move that could affect up to 200,000 foreigners, The Associated Press reported.
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The plan would be the latest in a series of visa crackdowns and tightened restrictions on immigration processes over the past year and would also be the largest revocation of visas in U.S. history.
The mass revocation would target B1 and B2 visas issued within the last 10 years, the AP reported. Those visa types are typically issued for business and tourism or family visits. The Trump administration claims these visas create a method for immigrants to enter the country short-term before filing for asylum in attempts to stay permanently.
“Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote in a social media post on Monday, although the State Department had not made an announcement about the plan.
It’s not the first time the administration has targeted these types of visas. Last month, the State Department made permanent a pilot program requiring B1 and B2 visa applicants from 50 countries to post bonds of up to $20,000. Thirty of those countries are in Africa.
Here’s what we do (and don’t) know about the B1 and B2 revocation plan:
What Could Happen?
The mass revocation has not been confirmed by officials. But a White House social media post Tuesday morning appeared to confirm the AP’s story.
“Set to revoke up to TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND visas,” the post on X said.
Two U.S. officials told the AP that many of the pending asylum cases for people with the two types of visas would be recategorized and that those immigrants would lose their legal status. The mass revocation would not translate to immediate deportations, said the officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the revocations are not final yet.
It’s unclear whether the revocations will face significant legal challenges, though they are likely to draw criticism from immigration advocates.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has generated numerous legal battles. Last week, a New York judge struck down Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s proposed ban on visas for people from 75 countries. The State Department described the ban as blocking immigrants from countries with “High Risk of U.S. Public Benefits Reliance.”
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The Broader Visa Crackdown
Visas have long been a focal point of the Trump administration’s push for immigration restrictions. In August 2025, the administration announced a review of more than 55 million visa holders that led to the revocation of over 175,000 visas, according to the State Department.
Those visas were held by “criminals who posed a danger to American citizens, endorsed violence against Americans, arranged illegal birth tourism schemes, or engaged in fraud,” the State Department announced.
Also revoked were thousands of visas from foreign students between January and August of 2025. Rubio put the number at more than 6,000 student visas.
Children Born in the U.S.
Trump has also repeatedly targeted the practice of people traveling to the U.S. and giving birth to children who get automatic citizenship.
Earlier this month, the State Department established a “Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force” to scrutinize visas and information from other federal agencies to look for examples of the practice. Nearly 900 visas have been revoked under the program so far, a State Department statement said.
“This is fundamentally about the sacred privilege of American citizenship,” State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Newsmax last week.
“If you try to take advantage of this, if you try to abuse or become an American citizen, try to abuse that sacred privilege of being an American through birth tourism and fraud, there will be consequences,” he added.
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