Foreign officials entered the United States on visas for government business, then sought asylum from the very governments they had come to represent.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau says a State Department review uncovered that pattern across diplomatic and official visas issued from 2019 through 2023. The ten country totals in the chart he released add up to 1,444 people who sought asylum.

One unnamed country accounted for 420. Two others accounted for 202 and 201.

Landau called the findings evidence of systemic abuse and said embassies had been instructed to examine these applications more closely under President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He withheld the countries’ names while the department raises the matter through diplomatic channels.

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The percentages show why the department is asking questions.

Breitbart reported on Landau’s disclosure and the accompanying figures. In one country, 17.25 percent of people who entered on diplomatic or official visas subsequently sought asylum; two other countries had rates above 10 percent.

Landau said the visas had been issued for business on behalf of the holders’ home governments. He described the later persecution claims as evidence of a problem that Washington is now addressing directly with those governments.

The report also noted a significant unanswered question: Landau did not say how many applicants actually received asylum. His charts identify asylum-related filings, labeled as I-589 events, rather than a list of successful cases or findings of fraud.

The five-year review period also spans both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration. It cannot accurately be described as a review of Biden-era visa issuance alone.

Diplomatic visas have their own application rules, which help explain why this review is different from a general examination of tourist visas.

The State Department says foreign officials traveling to perform national government duties generally need A-1 or A-2 visas. Holding a diplomatic passport alone does not make a personal vacation official business.

Applications normally include a diplomatic note from the sending government identifying the applicant’s position, assignment, purpose of travel and official duties. The note also addresses travel dates and the expected length of the stay.

Unlike many other visa applicants, people seeking these diplomatic categories generally do not have to attend a consular interview, although an officer may require one. Eligible immediate family members can also qualify for diplomatic visas.

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Those rules put the sending government’s representations at the center of the application. Landau’s announcement concerns what happened after some holders entered, when they sought protection from their home governments.

Kenyan business publication Bizna Kenya also reported the announcement, focusing on the tougher scrutiny of diplomatic and official applications:

For now, the public charts leave the individual circumstances undisclosed. They do not establish that every applicant lied, identify which claims were rejected or explain whether a person’s circumstances changed after arrival.

Those missing details matter when moving from an aggregate pattern to an allegation against a particular person.

Landau has also signaled another step: a new way for the public to report suspected visa fraud.

Responding to a question on X, he said the department expected to unveil that method shortly and that he would announce it. His reply described a forthcoming reporting channel, not one already launched.

The department’s next disclosures could answer the questions the charts cannot: which countries were involved, what the individual reviews found, and what action follows.

The confirmed change Landau announced is closer scrutiny at embassies. The number of asylum approvals, the outcomes of individual fraud investigations and the timing of the new reporting channel remain undisclosed.

 

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