A US federal judge has struck down a Trump administration policy that paused immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, including Laos.
The ruling, issued on 21 August by US District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan, found that the State Department had exceeded its legal authority by stopping consular officers from individually assessing applicants and instead suspending visa issuance based on nationality.
But the decision does not lift the separate US travel restrictions currently covering Lao nationals.
Laos remains subject to a partial entry and visa suspension under a Presidential Proclamation issued by President Donald Trump in June 2025.
That means the court ruling does not, by itself, reopen the US immigrant visa process for Lao citizens for the time being.
Why Laos Was on Both Lists
The two measures are separate and came from different parts of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
The State Department introduced the 75-country immigrant visa pause on 21 January 2026. It stopped the issuance of immigrant visas to nationals of the listed countries while the department reviewed concerns about applicants potentially becoming a “public charge.” Laos was among the 75 countries under that policy.
Judge Vargas ruled that the policy was unlawful because it prevented consular officers from carrying out the individualized assessments required under US immigration law. She described the policy as “patently unlawful.”
The lawsuit was brought by immigrant rights groups, visa applicants and US citizens sponsoring family members.
The court has now vacated that State Department policy. The ruling therefore affects the 75-country pause itself, rather than the separate presidential travel restrictions imposed on individual countries.
Judge Vargas gave the Trump Administration and the immigrant rights groups until 11 September to propose how the remaining issues should be resolved. The US government may appeal, meaning the ruling could change and further guidance may follow, so embassy processing arrangements remain uncertain.
What the Court Ruling Changes
The ruling is still significant for applicants from countries that appear on the 75-country list but are not subject to a separate presidential entry suspension.
For those applicants, the State Department’s blanket pause can no longer serve as the basis for refusing immigrant visas.
For Lao applicants, however, the situation is different. The court removed one layer of visa restrictions, but another, separate presidential proclamation remains in place.
The US State Department has not yet issued detailed guidance on how embassies should implement the ruling alongside the existing country-specific restrictions.
