The United States government has placed a temporary freeze on the processing of green card and citizenship applications submitted by Nigerians and citizens of other countries recently added to the US travel ban, a report by CBS News has revealed.

The pause affects lawful immigration applications overseen by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and primarily impacts applicants from selected African and Asian nations. Many of those affected are individuals who are already legally resident in the United States and were in the process of adjusting their immigration status or applying for US citizenship.

Earlier in December, the administration of former President Donald Trump instructed USCIS to suspend all immigration-related petitions — including applications for permanent residency and naturalisation — from nationals of 19 countries listed under the travel ban announced in June.

The directive followed the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC, during the Thanksgiving period. The attack was reportedly carried out by an Afghan national. In response, the administration also halted decisions on asylum applications handled by USCIS and stopped the processing of immigration and visa applications from Afghan nationals.

On Tuesday, President Trump further expanded the travel ban to cover 20 additional countries, imposing a complete entry ban on five nations and partial travel restrictions on 15 others.

A US official, who spoke anonymously to CBS News on Friday, disclosed that USCIS has now widened the suspension of immigration case processing to include citizens of the newly added countries.

Under the expanded measures, a full travel ban applies to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. Meanwhile, partial restrictions have been imposed on Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.