U.S. Legal Immigration Halved; Immigrant Visa Issuances to South Koreans Also Fell 19%

[Financial News] Legal immigration to the United States fell sharply early this year due to the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions.
According to The New York Times (NYT) on the 18th (local time), the State Department issued 26,000 immigrant visas in February this year, down to about half the monthly average of 52,000 issued before Trump took office.
By region, Central Asia was hardest hit, with the number of legal immigrant visas issued falling 99%, followed by Africa (89%), Eastern Europe (84%), the Middle East (81%), and Australia and Oceania (73%).
By country, the number of new immigrant visas issued to South Koreans fell 19%, from a monthly average of 420 in 2023–2024 to 340 in February this year.
The figure fell 31% for China and 16% for India. Japan saw a 25% decline.
The NYT said immigration to the United States had become impossible from 91 countries, and that immigration from Muslim countries had plunged by at least 90% in particular.
By contrast, Canada and Mexico, which were not subject to visa restrictions, saw legal immigrant visa issuances rise by 142% and 17%, respectively. The Philippines, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, and Spain were also among the countries where visa issuances increased.
The liberal-leaning think tank Cato Institute said the scale of the Trump administration’s cuts to legal immigration was the largest since the Herbert Hoover administration during the Great Depression (1929–1933), excluding the COVID-19 period.
Issuances of nonimmigrant visas are also declining.
Visas for international students and workers fell 30% from last year, while tourist and business visas declined 25%.
The NYT reported that although India and China were not listed as countries subject to entry bans, issuances of student and work visas had plunged due to new regulations and newly introduced fees.
Cases of people being separated from their families because of the Trump administration’s stringent immigration restrictions are also increasing.
Late last year, the Trump administration designated 12 countries—including Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan—as subject to entry bans, and subsequently barred nationals of 39 countries in total from obtaining visas and entering the United States.
It has also abolished the previous random lottery system for selecting recipients of H-1B visas, work visas for professionals.
 


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter