The Trump administration is preparing what would become the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history, a move that could strip business and tourist visas from as many as 200,000 foreign nationals who have applied for asylum.

Who would be affected

State Department documents obtained by the Associated Press show the effort targets B1 and B2 visas — respectively used for business travel and tourism — issued between 2016 and 2026 to holders who filed or are filing for asylum. The action is being coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the goal is to identify people who entered the country claiming to be short-term visitors before applying for asylum to remain permanently. He declined to specify how many visas would ultimately be revoked, calling the process "dynamic" and ongoing.

No automatic deportation

Officials who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, since the revocations are not yet finalized, said the change would not automatically trigger removal. Most pending asylum cases would be reclassified, though holders would lose their business or tourist traveler status.

Current B1 and B2 applicants are already required to confirm they will not seek asylum in the U.S. and to demonstrate intent to return to their home country.

Part of a broader crackdown

The measure extends a pattern of tightening restrictions since Trump began his second term, including heightened scrutiny of applicants' social media history, costlier visa bonds, and outright visa bans for citizens of certain countries.

The crackdown also touches skilled labor visas: this week the administration renewed a proposal for a $103,265 fee on employers hiring foreign workers through H-1B visas, a program widely used by U.S. companies to bring in scientists, doctors, engineers and software developers. DHS described the fee as a way to recover administrative costs of the legal immigration system.

It is the second attempt at such a fee — a $100,000 charge imposed in September 2025 was blocked in June by a federal judge after a lawsuit from 20 Democratic-led states, which argued it amounted to an illegal tax. That ruling remains under appellate review. The U.S. currently issues about 85,000 H-1B visas annually.

Asylum criticism and prior actions

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau criticized on social media those who, he said, use tourist or business visas as an entry point before applying for asylum, citing the case of a Colombian national who entered the U.S. in 2015 on a tourist visa.

Over the past 18 months, the State Department has already revoked roughly 175,000 visas from people convicted or accused of crimes ranging from drunk driving to rape and robbery, as well as from people who publicly protested U.S. policy, particularly on the Middle East. The administration has also cracked down on so-called "birth tourism," in which pregnant foreign nationals travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children gain birthright citizenship — a right Trump has repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to end through the courts.

Based on reporting from AP and Reuters