The United States has, for the first time, revoked all issued visas for citizens of a foreign country

The US government has revoked visas issued to all citizens of South Sudan. This was announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“I am taking steps to cancel all visas issued to South Sudanese passport holders and restrict the issuance of new visas to them, which is being done in order to prevent them from entering the United States. This decision is effective immediately, as the interim government of South Sudan has demonstrated its inability to accept its citizens in a timely manner,” Rubio wrote on his page on the X social network.

The US Secretary of State said that these actions will be reviewed after South Sudan is ready to fully cooperate.

The revocation of visas for South Sudanese is the first measure taken by the new administration of Donald Trump against all citizens of a particular country. In March, US officials announced plans to deport 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. However, these measures were intended to apply only to those who entered the country under a specific program.

Under Joe Biden, the US administration granted “temporary protected person status” (TPS) to South Sudanese citizens until May 3, 2025. In September 2023, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that 133 citizens had such status, and another 140 South Sudanese citizens in the United States could apply for TPS.

The Republic of South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011. Religious and ethnic conflicts were the main reasons for the country’s disintegration. In 2013, a civil war broke out in South Sudan, which led to famine and epidemics in the country. Today, South Sudan is one of the poorest countries on the planet, with thousands of its citizens displaced.