Washington, D.C. (July 10, 2025) – In this week's episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Jessica Vaughan, the Center's Director of Policy Studies, expands on her recent testimony before the U.S. House immigration subcommittee on “Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process”.
Under the Biden administration, the number of visa applications and issuances increased significantly, which created difficulties for vetting and greater opportunity for visa fraud. Along with host and Center Executive Director Mark Krikorian, Vaughan explores various actions that can be taken by Congress or the Trump administration to address these risks.
Vaughan identifies several possible changes that could be made administratively.
- Change the culture of customer service at USCIS and State Department that encourages adjudicators to “get to yes”
- Require mandatory interviews of all visa applicants
- Narrow the default authorized duration of stay for short-term tourist and business visas to 30 days instead of an automatic six months
Vaughan also discusses visa categories that she believes should be reviewed by Congress to decide if they need to be managed more closely, cut back, or eliminated altogether, including:
- Diversity Lottery
- U and T visas
- Special Immigrant Juvenile visas
- Optional Practical Training
- J visas
In his closing commentary, Mark Krikorian looks inside the “Big Beautiful Bill” and what its enactment means for immigration policy. |
