USCIS Quietly Updates Processing-Hold Guidance for Travel-Ban Country Cases

USCIS has quietly updated its March 30, 2026 screening and vetting guidance by adding applications associated with medical physicians to the list of case types where internal processing holds may be lifted. This is the latest development in the broader pause affecting certain immigration benefit requests connected to travel-ban or high-risk countries. The update does not appear to create a new country list or fully end the adjudication pause; rather, it adds another limited category of cases that may move forward after internal USCIS review. The broader pause has affected applicants who are citizens of, or were born in, designated travel-ban countries, including Afghanistan, Burma, Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Yemen, and others later added through expanded restrictions. Applicants from affected countries may continue to face delays, additional screening, or case-by-case review, even where USCIS has created limited exceptions for certain categories.