US Judge Strikes Down Visa Ban Covering Ghana

By News Ghana 

August 23, 20260

A U.S. federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for 75 countries, including Ghana, ruling that Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his authority in imposing it.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York issued the ruling Friday in a 61-page opinion, finding the policy “contrary to law and was issued in excess of statutory authority.” Vargas wrote that federal immigration law gives individual consular officers “exclusive authority and discretion” to assess each visa applicant, and that a blanket, nationality-based suspension could not override that.

The policy, announced in January and in effect since January 21, indefinitely paused the processing of immigrant visas, the category that leads to permanent residency, for nationals of the 75 countries the State Department said were at high risk of relying on U.S. public assistance. It did not affect tourist, student or business visas. Ghana was among 26 African countries on the list, named alongside Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Sierra Leone, at a time when the Trump administration had also been pressing several African governments, Ghana included, to accept deportation flights from the United States.

The ruling vacates the policy nationwide and sets aside any visa refusals that were based solely on it, ordering the State Department to resume individualised, case-by-case review of pending applications. The case was brought by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, along with six U.S. citizens affected by the suspension. A State Department spokesperson said the administration was “protecting the American people by upholding the highest standards of screening and vetting,” and declined to comment further on the ongoing litigation.

The department has not said whether it will appeal. Until that is resolved, Ghanaian applicants whose immigrant visa cases were frozen under the policy should see their applications return to normal processing, though the ruling does not guarantee approval, since consular officers retain discretion to assess each case on its individual merits.