President Trump’s December 16, 2025 proclamation and USCIS’s subsequent adjudication “pause” are creating two distinct layers of risk for foreign nationals and their employers. One policy blocks or limits entry to the United States, while the other delays decisions on immigration benefits, often for people already here. On policy memorandum dated January 1, 2026, the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) informed that it will be placing a hold on all pending benefit applications, for foreign nationals from countries  listed in the Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10998 travel ban as of January 1, 2026. The guidance affects future, pending, and certain previously approved immigration benefit requests, including employment-based filings.

The December 16, 2025 Trump Proclamation and the USCIS adjudication “pause” are related but distinct: the proclamation restricts entry to the U.S., while the pause delays decisions on immigration applications, often for people already here.

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Different Legal Tools, Different Targets

The Presidential Proclamation titled “Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States” relies on INA §212(f), allowing the president to suspend or limit entry of certain nationals he deems a security risk. It is, in essence, a new iteration of the Trump travel bans, focused on who can physically come into the United States and on what types of visas.

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By contrast, the USCIS adjudication “pause” (sometimes called a benefits hold or freeze) comes from internal USCIS policy guidance instructing officers not to issue final decisions on certain applications filed by nationals of specified countries. It does not itself bar entry at the border but interferes with whether, or when, USCIS will approve petitions and applications such as I‑129s, I‑140s, I‑485s, and some humanitarian benefits.

Who Is Directly Affected

The December 16, 2025 proclamation primarily affects foreign nationals who are outside the United States on or after its effective date (January 1, 2026), seeking to obtain a visa or be admitted from one of the listed countries. It distinguishes between full and partial entry bans and carves out limited exceptions for lawful permanent residents, certain dual nationals, diplomats, and a few other categories.

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The adjudication pause is aimed at individuals from the same or overlapping countries who have pending or recently approved immigration benefits with USCIS, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the United States. The memorandum indicates that USCIS is placing holds on many categories of cases and, in some situations, re‑reviewing approvals issued after January 20, 2021, with no firm end date announced.

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Dual Nationals

A key nuance in the new framework is how it treats dual nationals and those with Citizenship by Investment (CBI). Under the December 16, 2025 proclamation, a person born in a travel‑ban country who also holds citizenship in a non‑listed country can often avoid the entry ban by traveling exclusively on the non‑banned passport. In other words, for purposes of the travel ban itself, what usually matters at the border is the passport actually used to seek admission, not the person’s place of birth.

The USCIS adjudication pause works very differently and casts a much wider net. USCIS guidance explains that the hold on immigration benefits applies to foreign nationals who list a travel‑ban country as their country of birth or citizenship, and in some cases to those using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority. This means an applicant may still be caught in the adjudication freeze even if they apply using a second, “clean” passport from a non‑restricted country.

What Each Policy Actually Restricts

Under the proclamation, the core restriction is a suspension or limitation on entry: consulates may refuse to issue affected visas, and Customs and Border Protection may deny admission at U.S. ports of entry. These measures can fully bar immigrant and nonimmigrant visas for some countries and limit or shorten visa categories such as B, F, M, and J for others, subject only to narrow case‑by‑case waivers or national‑interest exceptions.

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The USCIS adjudication pause does not inherently change who is admissible, but it can freeze a foreign national’s immigration process in place. Cases may continue to move procedurally—USCIS can issue RFEs, NOIDs, or schedule interviews—yet officers are instructed not to approve (and sometimes not to deny) the cases until the hold is lifted or a specific exception applies.

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Timing, Duration, and Uncertainty

The proclamation sets a clear effective date—12:01 a.m. EST on January 1, 2026—and formally applies to people who were abroad and lacked a valid visa at that time, while requiring a security review every 180 days to consider modifying, lifting, or expanding the bans. Although “temporary” by design, previous travel bans show that such measures can remain in place for years absent a policy change.

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The adjudication pause, on the other hand, operates more like an open‑ended moratorium: USCIS has described it as an immediate hold on certain benefit decisions with ongoing internal review, but has not provided a definitive expiration date. That uncertainty makes it difficult for families and employers to plan, as employment start dates, adjustment approvals, travel plans, and long‑term strategies may all be pushed back indefinitely.

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Limited Applications Exempt from the Administrative Hold

• Form I‑90 (Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card), Form N‑565 (replacement naturalization/citizenship document), and Form N‑600 (Certificate of Citizenship).
• Limited categories of employment authorization applications (Form I‑765), including certain asylum‑based EADs, humanitarian parole‑based EADs, and EADs for individuals granted deferred action, where adjudication timelines are driven by statute or do not create new immigration status.
• Special case‑by‑case exceptions
• Benefits requested for athletes, coaches, those in supporting roles, and immediate relatives, traveling to major international sporting events
• Cases where benefit request serves the U.S. National Interest
• Cases with benefit requests tied to law‑enforcement or government cooperation

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Practical Risks and Strategy Considerations

• Travel Ban: for those subject to the proclamation, the central question is whether they can safely travel or obtain a visa at all; mis‑timed international travel can result in being stuck abroad with no realistic path back to the United States until an exception or waiver is granted. Employers and affected nationals should evaluate upcoming trips, consular appointments, and changes of status with immigration counsel before traveling or initiating consular processing.

• Benefits "pause": for those caught in the adjudication pause, the immediate risk is delay, not outright denial—but delay can have serious consequences: lapses in work authorization, postponed green card approvals, and cascading impacts on dependents. Careful documentation, back‑up strategies (such as alternative nonimmigrant classifications where available), and ongoing communication with counsel are critical while USCIS policies continue to evolve.

Litigation Update

A federal court case in Massachusetts is currently challenging USCIS’s adjudication‑hold policy and related discretionary changes (Doe v. Trump, 25‑cv‑13946, D. Mass.). The decision in that lawsuit could reshape how these holds are applied in the future and may influence whether USCIS must narrow, revise, or even rescind portions of the current policy.

Please contact the GC Ungo Team if you, one of your employees, are affected by these travel bans or adjudication pause or would like assistance with a national interest exemption.