US extends visa bans

THE Trump administration is pausing all immigration applications, such as requests for green cards, for people from 19 countries banned from travel earlier this year, as part of sweeping immigration changes in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops.

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The changes were outlined in a policy memo posted on Tuesday on the website of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency tasked with processing and approving all requests for immigration benefits.

The pause puts on hold a wide range of immigration-related decisions such as green card applications or naturalisations for immigrants from those 19 countries that the Trump administration has described as high-risk.

It is up to the agency's director, Joseph Edlow, on when to lift the pause, the memo said.