In the absence of any definite reason behind the Donald Trump administration's new visa freeze for 75 countries, including the 39 (almost all) announced earlier, South Asia expert Michael Kugelman claimed that there is little reason for keeping Pakistan on the list as there is no reliable data to show Pakistanis take welfare benefits from the US as Pakistanis in America are highly affluent, he claimed.
The new pause will be effective from January 21 and will continue for an indefinite period until the State Department issues a new notification on this matter. No specific reason behind choosing these countries have been mentioned but the department said that during the pause they would reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.
Kugelman said the ban is based on the list that Trump shared earlier this month, showing the country-wise percentage of immigration benefits going to people. The top position went to Bhutan with 81.4% and Pakistan's percentage was shown as 40.2%. Both Bhutan and Pakistan are new entries to the list and they were not featured on the previous lists where mostly African countries were chosen to be banned.
Kugelman said the list that Trump shared clarified no source and some of the figurescame across as off. The US freeze on immigration visa processing for 75 countries seems based on a chart posted by Trump on Truth Social that lists the immigrant groups with the highest % of households receiving US public assistance. Most (not all) nations on the chart are on the list of 75. But…the chart has no sourcing. Some of the figures seem odd. It says 40% of Pakistan immigrant households get assistance. But the Pak-American community is known for (and data show) it’s a highly affluent community. Some explanation of how the data was derived would help but," Kugelman wrote.
List of 75 countries
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Bhutan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Myanmar
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Colombia
Côte d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dominica
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Fiji
The Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
North Macedonia
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Nepal
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Pakistan
Republic of the Congo
Russia
Rwanda
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Yemen
Countries which are on the travel ban list but not on the visa freeze list
Angola
Benin
Burundi
Gabon
Malawi
Mauritania
Tonga
Zambia
Zimbabwe
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