Applicants for immigrant visas to the US have had their appointments postponed, after the administration of President Donald Trump ordered a pause amid a continuing immigration crackdown.
The delay is global and is expected to last weeks, and thousands of applicants across the Middle East could be affected.
The State Department says the appointment delays will give consular officers time for training to ensure visa applicants do not become a "public charge", or claim benefits reserved for US citizens.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the crackdown was aimed at rooting out fraud and abuse in the US visa system.
"The Trump administration is cracking down on the abuse of our immigration and visa system worldwide," he said on Thursday. "Those who lie to consular officers or participate in fraudulent visa networks will be held to account."
Which visa applications are affected?
The State Department is delaying appointments for those applying for immigrant visas. Tourist and business visas such as B1 and B2 are not expected to be affected.
Immigrant visa applications are often made by US citizens sponsoring a family member or partners to whom they are engaged to live in America. Other categories include employment-based immigrant visas, such as for "persons with extraordinary ability".
People arriving in the US on the visa are classed as lawful permanent residents, who are then given a green card. They have most of the same rights as citizens, except, among other things, the right to vote in federal elections.
How will the pause affect the Middle East?
The Trump administration had already imposed a separate pause on issuing visas to nationals of 75 countries. The rule came into effect in January, again on the grounds that immigrants were at "high risk" of claiming benefits.
The State Department's list includes Middle East countries including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Gulf countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were not on the list.
But a federal judge last week set the 75-country policy aside, calling it “contrary to law and in excess of statutory authority".
The timing has raised questions about whether the new delay is aimed at circumventing the court's ruling, but the State Department says the training initiative began in early August.
It comes amid a broader clampdown on people who already have visas. The State Department this month said more than 175,000 visas had been revoked since Mr Trump returned to office last year. The number includes immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
Officials say these were for people who had violated the terms of their visas, committed crimes or posed national-security concerns.
The State Department is also reportedly planning to revoke up to 200,000 business and tourist visas for people who have claimed asylum in the US.
How many immigrant visas does the US issue to people from the Middle East?
According to numbers from fiscal year 2024, the latest year the State Department published finalised data, a total of 36,204 immigrant visas were issued to Middle East and Gulf countries.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the tense political relations even back then, people from Yemen and Iran received the most immigrant visas ‐ 6,499 and 6,261 respectively. The third-largest recipient of US immigrant visas was Egypt, with 6,190.
The UAE received 755, Qatar 292 and Oman 41.
While Mr Trump campaigned in 2024 on a platform of stopping illegal immigration, his administration has also made legal immigration harder by, for example, imposing new and expensive fees for those applying for certain work visas.
