Under the direction of the Trump administration, to continue its effort to limit legal immigration, the Secretary of State sent a cable to U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad to consider health issues when issuing visas. This cable only affects applicants abroad who are applying for visas to enter the United States and will more likely impact applicants for immigrant visas.
The cable directs officials to consider whether certain health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases, as well as cancer, will cause immigrants to become public charges, or rely on governmental support once they arrive in the U.S. It also directs officers to consider the applicant’s financial and family situation and ability to pay for care.
Immigrant visa applicants must already undergo a medical examination to screen for contagious diseases and substances abuse disorders. However, this cable pushes inquiry further into health conditions that do not pose a risk to others.
The cable is vague and leaves much open to individual officer and doctor interpretation. It is also beyond a consular official’s expertise whether a person’s specific health condition will worsen and how much medical care that person will need in the future. It is unclear at this point how officers will be putting this cable into practice and whether this practice will be the subject of lawsuits as it broadens the public charge inquiry into extremely speculative territory.
If you are a current client of the Logan Firm and get scheduled for a consular interview abroad, your attorney will discuss possible issues during your interview preparation. The attorneys at the firm will continue monitoring this development and how it will be applied in practice.