USA / VISAS

Visa applicants to the US, including World Cup fans, will be asked a number of loaded questions

May 2026: The US State Department (foreign ministry) has directed consular officers at every American embassy and consulate worldwide to inquire of all applicants for temporary visas whether they have experienced harm in their home country or fear returning there.

 

The policy, which came into effect on 28 April 2026, aims to identify at the interview stage those applicants who might subsequently seek asylum in the United States and refuse them a visa beforehand. With the FIFA World Cup opening in the United States in June, the new rules will also impact millions of football supporters applying for visas to attend the tournament.

 

According to a State Department cable to diplomatic and consular posts, consular officers are required to ask two questions of every non-immigrant visa applicant: "Have you experienced harm or mistreatment in your country of nationality or last habitual residence?" and "Do you fear harm or mistreatment in returning to your country of nationality or permanent residence?”

 

The entire spectrum of non-immigrant visa types is subject to the directive, including tourist and business visas, student visas, exchange visitor visas, and all employment-related categories, as well as their dependents. In essence, the new questions pertain to almost anyone worldwide seeking any temporary permission to enter the United States.

 

The State Department directive states that the high number of people claiming asylum after entering on temporary visas suggests that many applicants misrepresent their intentions during the interview, and that current guidance is insufficient to identify those who fear returning home.

 

The policy presents a severe dilemma for a significant group of applicants. An honest ‘yes’ terminates the interview immediately. A dishonest ‘no’, however, is documented in the consular file and could later be used to weaken credibility if the applicant subsequently seeks asylum within the United States. There is no appeal process at the consulate, and consular officers' decisions are generally final. 

 

The policy seems designed to screen potential asylum claims before an applicant even reaches US soil. Under US asylum law, a person generally must be physically present in the US or arrive at a port of entry to request asylum. By using the visa process to flag and deny applicants who may later seek protection, the government risks closing the door on individuals who never get a fair chance to explain why they need it.

 

Immigration lawyers have also highlighted the particular challenge the policy creates for survivors of trauma. Applicants with genuine reasons to fear return, such as those from countries facing conflict, political violence, or persecution, may face the worst of both worlds: being denied a visa if they answer honestly, or risking jeopardising their future asylum claim if they do not.

 

The directive applies to consular interviews worldwide and is likely to impact most heavily on travellers from regions where conflict, political instability, and persecution are widespread, including the Middle East, Africa, South and South-East Asia, and Latin America.

 

Most European travellers, however, will not encounter the new questions. Citizens of the 42 countries in the US Visa Waiver Programme, which includes all EU member states, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, among others, travel to the United States via ESTA, an online pre-authorisation system that does not require a consular interview. The security questions are only asked during in-person interviews, so ESTA-eligible travellers remain unaffected by the new policy.

 

For World Cup fans who require a visa, however, the new questions will apply in full. The US State Department has introduced a priority appointment system, known as FIFA PASS, for ticket holders needing a consular interview. However, the scheme only provides faster access to appointments and does not change visa eligibility or exempt applicants from the new screening requirements.

 

Among the countries that have qualified for the tournament and whose fans will need a B-2 visitor visa are Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Brazil, and Uruguay. For supporters from these nations, honestly discussing fears or past mistreatment could result in their visa interview being terminated on the spot.

 

Sources: US Department of State; Washington Post; Fragomen

​

FOLLOW

Instagram || TikTok || X(Twitter) || Thread || Facebook || BlueSky || Mastodon || LinkedIn ||

​​

COMMENT

Praise. Criticise. Write.

​

BACK TO TOP

​

CANADA / BILL C-12

Canada’s new asylum law is described as the most significant reduction in refugee protection in ten years

April 2026: Canada has enacted major legislation overhauling its asylum system, triggering a sharp backlash from refugee organisations, immigration lawyers, and the United Nations, who warn that the new law will place thousands of vulnerable people at risk of deportation without a fair hearing.

 

The Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act, known as Bill C-12, received royal assent on 26 March 2026 under Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government. The bill passed with support from both the opposition Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois, giving it a broad parliamentary majority despite fierce opposition from civil society.

 

The most debated aspect of the law is a new one-year deadline for asylum claims. Asylum seekers who do not submit a claim within one year of first arriving in Canada after June 2020 will no longer be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board for a full hearing, regardless of whether they have since left and returned.

 

The law applies retrospectively. Within days of royal assent, Canada's immigration department began sending procedural fairness notices to about 30,000 asylum seekers whose claims could now be denied, including an estimated 9,000 Punjabi students who arrived on study permits and later sought asylum when their post-graduation prospects diminished. 

 

The government has justified the changes as necessary to alleviate pressure on a system struggling with a significant backlog. Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab stated the law would make the system ‘fair, efficient and functioning as intended’. The government contends that someone who has resided in Canada for a year without claiming asylum has shown they are not in immediate need of protection.

 

Rights groups have expressed concern. Adam Sadinsky, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, described Bill C-12 as "the most significant rollback of refugee rights in more than a decade" and stated he had no doubt it would be challenged in court on constitutional grounds. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association cautioned that the one-year rule is arbitrary, noting that survivors of trauma, torture, and gender-based violence may take years before feeling able to disclose their experiences and submit a claim.

 

The UN Human Rights Committee warned, before the bill was passed, that it could weaken refugee protection and urged Canada to ensure that all individuals seeking international protection have unrestricted access to fair procedures with essential safeguards. A broad coalition of more than twenty organisations involved in human rights, civil liberties, refugees, and data privacy condemned the law, stating that it "will put thousands of individuals at risk of persecution, violence and precarity."

 

The legislation also introduces other important changes. The government now has the power to cancel, suspend, or alter large groups of immigration documents when it considers it in the public interest, a provision critics say grants far-reaching executive authority with inadequate safeguards. From May 2026, co-payments will be introduced for medicines and additional health services under the refugee health programme, a change that doctors working with newly arrived asylum seekers say will delay treatment and cause vulnerable patients to seek care only when their condition has worsened.

 

Canada has long presented itself internationally as one of the world's most welcoming countries for refugees. The 2026 immigration levels plan also reduces the quota for privately sponsored refugees by 30 per cent, from 23,000 in 2025 to 16,000, leaving over 90,000 people currently awaiting private sponsorship facing a wait of nearly six years. For refugee advocates, these combined measures signify a fundamental shift of a country that has built much of its international identity on openness to those fleeing persecution.

 

Sources: CBC News; Al Jazeera; Canadian Council for Refugees; Canadian Civil Liberties Association; Radio-Canada; JURIST; Government of Canada (canada.ca).

​

FOLLOW

Instagram || TikTok || X(Twitter) || Thread || Facebook || BlueSky || Mastodon || LinkedIn ||

​​

COMMENT

Praise. Criticise. Write.

​

BACK TO TOP

​

USA / MINNEAPOLIS

Bruce Springsteen releases protest song dedicated to immigrant neighbours in Minneapolis

January 2026: Bruce Springsteen has released a new protest song, Streets of Minneapolis, responding to this month’s immigration enforcement operations and unrest in the US city. The track, written and recorded within days, is dedicated to ‘the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbours’, according to a message posted by the singer alongside the release.

 

Springsteen said the song was created as an immediate artistic response to what he described as heavy-handed federal action in the city, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have triggered protests and renewed national debate about immigration policy and civil rights.

 

The lyrics directly reference immigration enforcement and racial profiling, with one verse stating:

 

'Now they say they’re here to uphold the law, but they trample on our rights.

If your skin is black or brown, my friend, you can be questioned or deported on sight'.

 

The song also criticises federal authorities more broadly and portrays Minneapolis as a city under strain, while emphasising solidarity with residents and migrant communities affected by enforcement actions.

 

Although the title echoes Springsteen’s 1993 Oscar-winning song Streets of Philadelphia, written for the film Philadelphia, the new track is musically distinct. The connection lies primarily in its social message, continuing Springsteen’s long tradition of using music to address injustice, policing and marginalised communities.

 

Streets of Minneapolis has quickly gained attention online and in the international press, reinforcing Springsteen’s reputation as one of the most politically outspoken figures in American popular music. For immigrant advocacy groups, the song has been welcomed as a high-profile expression of solidarity at a time of heightened tension over migration and enforcement policies in the United States.

​​

FOLLOW

Instagram || TikTok || X(Twitter) || Thread || Facebook || BlueSky || Mastodon || LinkedIn ||

​​

COMMENT

Praise. Criticise. Write.

​

BACK TO TOP

​

USA / GERMANY

More American Jews with Nazi-era family ties apply for German citizenship

January 2026: An increasing number of Americans with Jewish family roots in Nazi-era Germany are applying for German citizenship, according to recent reporting by German public broadcaster Tagesschau. The trend reflects both Germany’s longstanding reparations policy and growing concerns among Jewish communities in the United States about rising antisemitism and political polarisation.

 

German diplomatic missions in the US have reported a steady rise in applications from descendants of families who were stripped of German citizenship under the Nazi regime or forced to flee persecution between 1933 and 1945. While Germany has offered citizenship restoration for decades, interest has accelerated in recent years, particularly since the pandemic period and amid heightened political tensions in the US.

 

Since 2024, demand has increased sharply. In 2025, the German Consulate General in New York received 1,771 applications for ‘reparation citizenships’. By comparison, there were 894 applications in 2023 and 734 in the previous year. On this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day (28 January), 81 American Jews received German citizenship. They are all descendants of victims of Nazi persecution.

 

Applicants interviewed by German media cite multiple motivations. For some, German citizenship represents a symbolic act of historical justice, reclaiming rights that were violently taken from their families. Others see practical benefits, including visa-free movement within the European Union and access to work and residence rights across 27 EU countries. However, a growing number point to security concerns, rising antisemitic incidents and fears about democratic backsliding in the US as key factors influencing their decision.

 

The political climate surrounding Donald Trump’s second-term presidency has also been cited as a contributing factor. Jewish advocacy groups in the US have recorded sharp increases in antisemitic threats, vandalism and online harassment in recent years. Some applicants told German media they view EU citizenship as an ‘insurance policy’ against future instability.

 

Germany’s legal framework allows descendants of Nazi persecution victims to obtain citizenship under special restitution provisions. These include Section 15 of the Nationality Act, which provides facilitated naturalisation for people affected by racial, religious or political persecution and their descendants. Applicants are not required to renounce their existing nationality, allowing most US citizens to hold dual citizenship.

​

FOLLOW

Instagram || TikTok || X(Twitter) || Thread || Facebook || BlueSky || Mastodon || LinkedIn ||

​​

COMMENT

Praise. Criticise. Write.

​

BACK TO TOP

​

USA / MINNESOTA

President Trump calls US citizens of Somali descent ‘garbage’

December 2025: In a volatile outburst, US President Trump levelled sweeping, incendiary remarks against the Somali community in Minnesota, calling Somali immigrants ‘garbage’, saying their country ‘stinks’, and declaring he did not want them in the United States. He doubled down hours later during an Oval Office event, saying, “Somalians should be out of here”, and accusing them of having destroyed the country.

 

During a Cabinet meeting, Trump reportedly said, “We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.” He singled out immigrants from Somalia, and even referenced Ilhan Omar, a member of the US House of Representatives, calling her ‘garbage’ and denouncing her and ‘her friends’ as part of what he described as a community contributing nothing to America.

 

At the same time, according to media reporting, federal authorities moved to launch a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, focusing on the metropolitan area of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, where most Somali-Americans in the US live. 

 

The immediate trigger behind the White House escalation appears to be a wave of prosecutions tied to alleged fraud in pandemic-era social service and food-aid programmes. Some of those charged are from Minnesota’s Somali community, but the public record and federal filings do not support the sweeping narrative advanced by Trump of a community-wide criminal conspiracy.

 

Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota, responded sharply. While acknowledging the need to investigate fraud where it occurs, he condemned what he called a “demonisation of an entire community”. “You commit crimes, you go to jail, but to blanket an ethnic group based on the actions of a few is lazy and dangerous,” Walz told reporters.

 

Jacob Frey, Mayor of Minneapolis, joined the backlash. He vowed that city police, including many officers who are Somali, would not help with immigration enforcement. Frey called Trump’s remarks a violation of American values and warned that aggressive enforcement operations risk detaining US citizens purely based on appearance. “Targeting Somali people means that due process will be violated,” he said.

 

Somali community members described growing fear. Many said they worry about leaving their homes, going to work or sending children to school. Some called the president’s remarks reminiscent of historic hate speech.

 

Minnesota hosts the largest Somali community in the US, with most of the nearly 100,000 members naturalised US citizens.

​

FOLLOW

Instagram || TikTok || X(Twitter) || Thread || Facebook || BlueSky || Mastodon || LinkedIn ||

​​

COMMENT

Praise. Criticise. Write.

​

BACK TO TOP​​​​​​​​​​​​​