U.S. judge blocks Trump-era ban on immigrant visas for 75 countries, including North Macedonia
Federal judge in New York says the suspension of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries, including North Macedonia, violates the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
A federal judge in the Southern District of New York has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, a list that includes North Macedonia. The ruling concluded the policy unlawfully discriminated on the basis of nationality.
Court finds policy conflicts with federal immigration law
Judge Janet A. Vargas ruled that the State Department’s measure, introduced earlier this year, prevented consular officials from approving immigrant visas even when individual interviews showed applicants were financially self-sufficient. The administration had justified the suspension by saying people from the affected countries were more likely to rely on public benefits — a rationale aimed at preventing what it described as a transfer of U.S. taxpayer resources abroad.
In her opinion the judge wrote that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 bars nationality-based discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas, and that the White House policy imposed a categorical bar tied solely to applicants’ country of origin. The decision therefore found the policy inconsistent with the statutory prohibition against national-origin discrimination.
The ruling restores the ability of consular officers to consider individual circumstances in immigrant visa cases for nationals of the 75 listed countries. It does not, however, address broader presidential immigration authorities or other non-visa rulemaking by the administration.
The State Department had earlier this year halted immigrant visa processing for citizens of 75 countries, citing concerns about potential use of public assistance. North Macedonia was explicitly named among the affected states. The court decision requires the department to resume adjudications without a blanket nationality-based ban.
Legal challenges to immigration measures that apply nationwide have repeatedly focused on whether executive actions exceed statutory limits by imposing group-based exclusions; this ruling adds to a string of judicial findings scrutinizing such policies.
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