10/12/2026
The U.S. Embassies across the globe has not resumed or scheduled immigrant visa interviews. Changes in policies are being drastically made to crackdown H1B visa fraud with many big tech companies are halted in sponsoring any more foreign workers.
The U.S. Embassy Manila website (ph.usembassy.gov) has no new announcement on when EB/immigrant visa interviews will resume and still shows that NVC schedules immigrant visa interviews while applicants schedule a separate VAC appointment. The lack of slots is due to a State Department worldwide pause confirmed August 25, 2026 for a global public-charge training initiative affecting all posts including Manila; as of September 26, 2026 no global restart date has been announced, with only Hungary and Poland confirmed to have resumed, leaving EB consular cases on hold pending new email notices from NVC/the Embassy.
In his second term, Trump has turned denaturalization into a formal enforcement priority. A **June 11, 2025 DOJ memo** ordered prosecutors to "prioritize and maximally pursue" revocation of citizenship obtained through fraud or illegal procurement under 8 U.S.C. § 1451, with priority categories including terrorism, war crimes, gang/cartel ties, s*x offenses, and financial fraud like PPP and Medicaid fraud. Internal USCIS guidance from Dec. 2025 set a quota of **100-200 referrals per month** for FY 2026 — projecting 1,200-2,400 cases per year versus a historic average of 11 per year from 1990-2017 and ~25 under Trump’s first term. As of mid-2026, DOJ has moved against nearly 90 people, including 12 in May and 17 on June 8 accused of offenses from s*xual abuse to wire fraud, and aims to file 250 cases by Oct. 2026. The push includes **Operation PARRIS**, launched Jan. 9, 2026 in Minnesota to re-examine refugee and naturalization cases from 39 "high-risk" countries, particularly Somali-Americans, after Trump said he would strip citizenship "in a heartbeat" if people were dishonest.
The mission of the U.S. Embassy is to advance the interests of the United States, and to serve and protect U.S. citizens in the Philippines.