Transcript of the above video: 

A lot of news going around about Trump's recent announcement regarding "ban" of certain visas; it's turning out that this is actually a pause while they are retooling their regulatory scrutiny associated with public charge rules for the United States. What is Public Charge? Public Charge issues pertain to immigrants coming into the United States and availing themselves of public benefits in the U.S. We're talking about basically welfare; people that come to the United States, they get in on a Visa and then they avail themselves of welfare benefits. This seems to be what Mr. Trump is trying to forestall.

So I thought of making this video, and I want to get into the analysis of this, because I want people to understand, what is Public Charge? And also, Affidavits of Support. Quoting directly from nafsa.org, under DOS Pauses Immigrant Visa Issuance for Nationals of 75 Countries. Quoting directly: "In a January 14, 2026 news posting, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that it will pause the issuance of Immigrant Visas at U.S. Consulates worldwide starting January 21, 2026, for nationals of 75 countries the DOS deems are "at high risk of public benefits usage".  

And then moving over here to Background on Public Charge. Quoting directly: "A long-standing Immigration and Nationality Act public charge provision establishes that applicants for a Visa, Admission, or Adjustment of Status are inadmissible to the United States if they are likely at any time to become a public charge. INA 212(a)(4), 8 USC 1182(a)(4) provides in general that, "Any alien, who in the opinion of the Consular Officer at the time of application for a Visa, or in the opinion of the Attorney General at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible." 

So we deal with this here. I have actually dealt with public charge inadmissibility in the past. Generally speaking, it is dealt with through the rubric of what is called a 221g refusal; they refuse to issue the Visa pending further documentation. Generally speaking they say, "hey we want to see another tax return", or "we want to see more information pertaining to homeownership or assets", before we sign off on issuing a Visa; we want to be satisfied that the sponsor for either an Immigrant Spouse Visa or a Non-immigrant Fiancé(e) Visa can meet the criteria to financially support someone in the United States. 

That said, quoting further: "The statute then directs DOS and DHS to consider at a minimum the following factors when making a public charge determination:

• age,
• health, 
• family status, 
• assets, resources, and financial status, and 
• education and skills. 

Additional background on public charge 

For additional background of public charge, please see: 

• Department of State’s sparse regulations implementing the statutory public charge provision. 

Quoting further: "The pause policy may also be related to a purported DOS cable sent to Consular Posts on or about November 6, 2025, which described a "totality of the circumstances" approach to making public charge determinations. This cable has likewise not been made available to the public but was described in press reports around the globe instructed Consular Officers to enforce sweeping new screening rules under the so-called "public charge" provision of Immigration Law." 

Look, we saw this in the first Trump Administration, if only briefly. They tried to roll it out; it's a much more stringent and much more highly scrutinized public charge rubric sort of analysis than what we saw in the past. It just is. They look more deeply at it. Again, they look at age, health, family status, assets, resources, financial status. I expect it's going to be harder moving forward to prove up financial resources - at least during this Administration which we've got, it looks like three more years of - and that's just going to be how it is. 

So again we're in the pause right now as they are retooling this, and then I expect that they will bring online some new way of determining public charge at Embassies and Consulates abroad. When they do, and once we start to see what these new protocols look like, we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as that situation evolves.