US judge orders resumption of green card applications from countries under travel ban

A US federal judge has ordered the government to restart green card applications for immigrants affected by the travel ban policy, as per reports. This decision gives hope to many people whose applications were paused for a long time.

The judge  reportedly said that the immigration agency, USCIS, cannot stop processing applications completely. He stated that the agency must continue working on these cases. The case consisted of 83 immigrants who were living legally in the United States. Many of them have been in the country for more than five years, pay taxes, and have no legal problems. 

As per reports, the USCIS had paused applications from people belonging to 39 countries under the travel ban rules. The government said the ban was for security reasons and for stopping new people from entering the country. However, this also affected people already living in the US, leaving them uncertain about their future. A group called Project Press Unpause said that more than 2 million applications were not processed, even after collecting over $1 billion in fees

Green card approval has also decreased in recent months. Reports show that family based approvals dropped by more than 50% between mid 2025 and early 2026.