{"id":24569,"date":"2026-01-15T08:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/24569\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T08:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:23:07","slug":"kenya-and-burundi-escape-u-s-visa-freeze-as-washington-targets-75-nations-over-public-charge-concerns-dawan-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/24569\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya and Burundi Escape U.S. Visa Freeze as Washington Targets 75 Nations Over \u2018Public Charge\u2019 Concerns | Dawan Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"relative group\">The list of affected countries spans Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and includes Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Brazil, Russia and Yemen, among others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"relative group\">Washington has pointed to varied reasons for the move, including past fraud cases and welfare abuse concerns. Somalia, for instance, has faced heightened scrutiny following a major fraud scandal in Minnesota involving misuse of taxpayer-funded benefit programmes, with many suspects linked to the Somali community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"relative group\">The decision builds on guidance issued to U.S. embassies in November 2025, directing officers to apply stricter screening under the \u201cpublic charge\u201d provision of immigration law. Factors to be considered include age, health, finances, English proficiency and potential need for long-term medical care. Applicants with a history of cash assistance or institutional care could also be denied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"relative group\">While the \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule has existed for decades, its enforcement has shifted across administrations. A broader interpretation introduced in 2019 under President Trump was later rolled back by the Biden administration in 2022, which narrowed the benefits considered. The latest move signals a return to tougher standards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"relative group\">Uganda, now among 26 African countries on the list, has been directly affected by the suspension. The State Department said the freeze would not apply to non-immigrant visas such as tourist and business travel, though officers have been instructed to intensify screening even in those categories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"relative group\">\u201cThe Trump administration is bringing an end to the misuse of America\u2019s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,\u201d the State Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"relative group\">For Kenya, widely viewed as a key U.S. ally in the region, the exemption underscores its strategic standing. However, analysts warn that the decision could still have indirect effects, as increased demand and scrutiny ripple across the region.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Kenya and Burundi escape U.S. immigrant visa freeze on 75 countries\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"730\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768465387_314_image.jpeg\"\/>Kenya and Burundi have been exempted from a US decision to pause immigrant visa processing for citizens of 75 countries over public charge and welfare concerns starting 21 January 2026 | Dawan Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The list of affected countries spans Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and includes Somalia,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[63,1100,1104,854,1102,1107,1109,1106,1098,1096,1101,1103,1108,1105,1094,302,83,1099,1028,1095,321,262,1097,80,96,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-24569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-african-business","10":"tag-african-culture","11":"tag-african-development","12":"tag-african-economy","13":"tag-african-education","14":"tag-african-entertainment","15":"tag-african-healthcare","16":"tag-african-media","17":"tag-african-news","18":"tag-african-politics","19":"tag-african-society","20":"tag-african-sports","21":"tag-african-technology","22":"tag-analysis","23":"tag-breaking-news","24":"tag-business","25":"tag-continental-news","26":"tag-current-affairs","27":"tag-dawan-africa","28":"tag-east-africa","29":"tag-economy","30":"tag-horn-of-africa","31":"tag-kenya","32":"tag-news","33":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}