Various sources in Washington anticipate a significant shift in immigration policy that could modify the analysis of thousands of applications each year.
Internal discussions reveal that the government is seeking to adjust the criteria used to review immigration benefits, although there is still no official decision.
According to preliminary documents cited by The New York TimesThe U.S. administration is working on a proposal that would allow Citizenship and Immigration Services to consider "country-specific factors" as negative elements when evaluating applications for residency, asylum, parole, and other benefits. Cuba appears on the list of countries affected by the current travel ban.
Changes that would affect key requests
The measure would incorporate, as a formal criterion, the same factors that justify the travel ban signed by President Donald Trump in June.
That order includes Cuba, Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. It also imposes partial restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The change would apply to applications requiring discretionary review by USCIS. In these processes, an officer analyzes positive and negative factors before making a decision.
The agency argues that some countries do not share enough background information or do not have reliable systems for issuing passports and essential documents, which limits verification.
The rule would not affect citizenship applications and is still being drafted. However, analysts believe its scope would be broad and would have direct effects on communities already in the United States under temporary legal status.
Criticisms and warnings from experts
Doug Rand, a former USCIS official, described the idea as a "radical change" because it bases decisions on the country of origin rather than on individual assessment.
Analyst Sarah Pierce stated that "there is no way this policy will not increase denials," warning of potential legal challenges based on nationality discrimination.
Other specialists, such as Michael Valverde, pointed out that validating documents from countries with weak systems has always been complicated, but stressed that never before had these problems become an official “negative factor” within the process.
If confirmed, the policy would also impact asylum and humanitarian parole applications, two routes used by people already in the country that until now have depended on a case-by-case assessment.
For some analysts, this could amount to a significant restriction of humanitarian protection pathways.
A broader movement to limit benefits
The potential adjustment is part of a broader scenario. In recent weeks, the government has reduced the number of refugees allowed for the fiscal year and strengthened social media vetting for certain applicants. In just one instance... 2025USCIS claims to have conducted more than 12502 individual verifications on digital platforms.
The draft revised by The New York Times It acknowledges that the exact impact the measure would have on approval rates is unknown. However, experts anticipate a significant increase in rejections and a rise in litigation.
For now, the document remains under internal review, but if approved it would mark a further tightening of US immigration policy and would affect thousands of people whose future would increasingly depend on the country in which they were born.