US President Donald Trump’s administration resumed processing immigrant visa applications from Hungary and Poland last week while maintaining a temporary pause on immigrant visa appointments elsewhere, four people familiar with the matter said.
The directive to prioritize immigrant visas at the US missions in Poland and Hungary came from the White House, two of the sources said. While it was not immediately clear why the US singled out the two countries for special attention, Trump and his senior aides have cultivated far-right allies in both places.
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He publicly endorsed former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was defeated at the polls in April, and Poland’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki, whose election has put him at odds with the centrist government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
In May, Reuters reported that US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau instructed senior State Department officials to facilitate a US visa for a fugitive former Polish cabinet minister who had taken refuge from corruption charges in Hungary.
