The United States has quietly instituted a blanket freeze on almost all types of visa for applicants who hold Palestinian Authority-issued passports, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing four unnamed American officials. The US State Department confirmed the policy.
News of the summary denials came after US President Donald Trump’s administration said it would not issue visas for Palestinian officials seeking to attend this month’s United Nations General Assembly, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and after it paused all visitor visas for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip seeking medical treatment in the US. The newspaper said the new policy is much broader.
The temporary suspension covers “visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives and business travel,” according to the Times.
The freeze does not apply to those who already have visas, or to Palestinians who have a second passport and use that other passport to apply for a visa.
The policy was laid out in a message sent on August 18 by the State Department to all US diplomatic missions, making use of a mechanism — section 221-G of the US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 — that is usually only used to demand extra documents or information from certain people to help make a decision on their request.
“Effective immediately, consular officers are instructed to refuse under 221(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA) all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders using that passport to apply for a nonimmigrant visa,” the State Department cable said, according to the Times.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and is broadly recognized internationally as the Palestinians’ legitimate representative, began issuing passports in the 1990s, during the time of the Oslo Accords between Israel’ and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
The blanket visa ban came after US officials announced on August 16 that it had paused approving visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, shortly after far-right activist and Trump confidante Laura Loomer described families from the enclave who were admitted to the US so their children could get medical treatment as “a national security threat.”
On Friday, the US State Department announced it would not issue visas for Abbas and some 80 more Palestinian officials for the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this was to hold the PA “accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
Abbas had been planning to travel to New York for the annual high-level UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there — hosted by France and Saudi Arabia — where Britain, France, Australia and Canada are planning to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
The move drew widespread condemnation from the international community, particularly from the EU, which has pressed Washington to rescind the decision.