The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is recasting its work-permit system as part of a broader intelligence-driven approach to immigration monitoring, cutting the validity period for employment authorisation from five years to 18 months.

While the change affects thousands of non-citizens legally working in the United States, officials are presenting it not merely as a procedural shift, but as a recalibration of how frequently the government cross-checks immigration records against emerging security data.

According to Fox News, the agency argues that shorter validity periods will compel repeated background checks, allowing federal systems to capture new information on fraud risks, security alerts, or changes in an applicant’s profile that may not have been visible years earlier...TAP TO CONTINUE FULL READING.

Director Joseph Edlow framed the move as a safeguard embedded within national security priorities.

“Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies,” he was quoted as saying.

Edlow also referenced a recent incident in Washington, stressing that frequent vetting is no longer optional in the current climate.

“After the attack on National Guard service members in our nation’s capital by an alien who was admitted into this country by the previous administration, it’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct frequent vetting of aliens.”

Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that the United States government on Tuesday suspended the processing of all immigration applications from 19 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, raising fears of prolonged legal limbo for thousands of prospective immigrants.

President Donald Trump’s administration defended the decision, citing national security concerns following an attack on National Guard members in Washington last week. An Afghan national was arrested as a suspect.

Under the new policy, all applicants from the affected countries must undergo a comprehensive vetting process. The administration has not specified how long the pause will last or whether additional nations could be added.

Officials argued that the shift is necessary, saying it is intended to ensure the integrity of the immigration system and prevent what they called “security gaps.” Yet critics warn the move could leave thousands in legal uncertainty while the review continues.

Several of the countries on the list were already under partial travel bans. Countries facing the most severe restrictions include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that President Donald Trump issued a sharply worded Thanksgiving message calling for an immediate and permanent halt to immigration from what he described as “all Third World Countries,” while criticising current U.S. immigration policies and political leaders.

In a lengthy statement posted on his social media handles , Trump began by addressing supporters: “A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at, along with certain other foolish countries throughout the World, for being ‘Politically Correct,’ and just plain STUPID, when it comes to Immigration. The official United States Foreign population stands at 53 million people (Census), most of which are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels.”

He argued that immigrant families place a heavy strain on public resources, saying: “They and their children are supported through massive payments from Patriotic American Citizens who, because of their beautiful hearts, do not want to openly complain or cause trouble in any way, shape, or form. They put up with what has happened to our Country, but it’s eating them alive to do so! A migrant earning $30,000 with a green card will get roughly $50,000 in yearly benefits for their family. The real migrant population is much higher.”

Calling immigration the root cause of what he described as social decline, Trump added: “This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.). As an example, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota.”

He further claimed that “Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone.”

Trump also targeted Minnesota’s leadership, saying: “The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both, while the worst ‘Congressman/woman’ in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab, and who probably came into the U.S.A. illegally in that you are not allowed to marry your brother, does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country, its Constitution, and how ‘badly’ she is treated, when her place of origin is a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation, which is essentially not even a country for lack of Government, Military, Police, schools, etc.”