Stuck in limbo: millions of professionals risk losing legal status under Trump pause

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

April 28, 2026 5:00 AM ET


The lives of hundreds of thousands of people were thrown into limbo after the Trump administration hit pause on reviewing their visa, green card, work permit and citizenship applications. The pause is targeted at those born in one of 39 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar and Venezuela. The U.S. imposed travel restrictions on most of those countries after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen on a Washington, D.C. street in late November.

Five months in, and the impact has been catastrophic for many people from those countries already living in the U.S., whether they're going to school or working in lucrative labor sectors like oil and gas, technology and medicine. NPR spoke with more than a dozen people on condition of anonymity, because they all fear adverse consequences for their immigration applications if they speak publicly. They asked NPR to not use their full names and name them only by their first initials.

Their experiences mirror each other: sudden financial insecurity, months of unemployment, academic and professional opportunities lost — and a crippling anxiety over the abrupt inability to live or work legally in the U.S. The pause is just one part of a larger effort by the administration to restrict legal forms of migration and boost mass deportation of immigrants.

"It hit really hard because I was actually in line for a promotion in July," said A, who leads a cancer clinical research team in Ohio and is from Myanmar. She has been in the U.S. since 2016. Her work authorization, which has been renewed before, is now paused by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). "It's very disappointing to know that something I've been working really hard towards for the last few years is now going to be out of reach just because of where I was born."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/28/nx-s1-5775869/trump-travel-ban-pause-limbo-professionals

[kimbutgar]

1. One of my students at a school I substitute at and have known for years is leaving our school at the end of

The year because his parents are from India and are afraid this was going to happen. They are moving to London. Another student left a few months ago because their parents visas expired and the child was born in the US and they also had to disrupt their lives and leave the US.

I am so ashamed and no longer proud to be an American. We are becoming such a pariah nation.

[SamuelAdams]

2. It's mind boggling how dumb and awful this administration is.

They are trying to kick out immigrants who are doing vital jobs that can't be filled by other Americans. If you kick out doctors, scientists, researchers, engineers, computer programmers, etc. you have less of them. Highly educated people are not sitting around waiting for someone else to get fired so they can get a job. We are delaying medical, technological, and scientific advancements that would benefit us all. We are ceding the future to China and other countries that take science seriously.

[Solly Mack]

3. ...