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The United States has revoked more than 300,000 visas since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, the State Department announced Tuesday, as the administration steps up immigration enforcement and tightens scrutiny of foreign nationals.
The latest figure represents a sharp increase from the more than 175,000 visa revocations reported in August and the 250,000 threshold disclosed in late September. The administration claims it has canceled visas at a faster pace than any previous U.S. government.
Mora Namdar, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, announced the figure on X, warning visa holders that they could lose their right to travel to the United States if they break the law. "300,000+ visa revocations and counting. Our message to visa holders is simple: respect our laws or lose the privilege of traveling to the United States," Namdar wrote.
She also shared a White House post declaring that the Trump administration had revoked visas faster than any other administration in U.S. history.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott defended the policy, saying the cancellations target foreign nationals involved in illegal activities, fraud or conduct considered a threat to national security. "We have zero tolerance for foreigners here on visas who break the law, commit fraud, or undermine our national security," Pigott wrote on X.
The administration has cited several grounds for revoking visas, including criminal offenses, violations of visa conditions, immigration fraud and threats to public safety or national security.
According to figures released by the White House on Tuesday, the total includes at least 4,000 cases linked to birth tourism and 6,000 involving foreign students who committed crimes or had ties to terrorism.
The administration also reported that more than 700 visas held by Chinese nationals had been revoked by its Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force since the initiative launched in August.
The State Department has not released a comprehensive breakdown of the more than 300,000 revocations by nationality or visa category.
Visa revocations are taking place alongside tighter checks on foreign nationals seeking permission to enter the United States.
The State Department announced in September that it would expand online presence reviews from Oct. 1 to include additional nonimmigrant visa categories, covering foreign media representatives and certain professionals from Canada and Mexico.
Under the expanded rules, applicants for I visas, used by foreign media representatives, and TN and TD visas, covering certain professionals and their dependents under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, must set their social media profiles to public or open.
The department already applies online screening to several other categories, including international students, temporary workers, exchange visitors and certain religious workers. Officials maintain that these checks help determine whether applicants pose national security or public safety risks and whether they intend to comply with visa conditions.
The broader policy shift has also made legal immigration more restrictive. The administration has introduced additional measures affecting foreign workers and tightened requirements for people seeking entry to the country.
Among the most controversial cases are visa cancellations involving foreign nationals who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations against Israeli attacks in Gaza. Other cases have involved foreigners whose social media comments about the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk attracted scrutiny.
Rights advocates have questioned whether the government is using national security justifications to target critics and have warned that expanded screening could lead to racial profiling and heightened scrutiny of immigrant communities.
The Trump administration maintains that its approach is intended to protect public safety, enforce immigration laws and prevent foreign nationals who pose risks from entering or remaining in the country.
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