Gloria and Dustin Hoffman take a selfie with their children.
Gloria Hoffman
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Gloria Hoffman
Late last year, Dustin Hoffman and his wife Gloria began paperwork to obtain a visa to live in the United States.
The couple, along with their 5-year-old daughter Chaya and Hoffman’s 12-year-old stepson Israel, lived together in Argentina, where Hoffman moved in 2013 after serving a deployment with the U.S. military in Iraq.
“My daughter is growing up and she’s very smart and my stepson is very smart,” Hoffman said. “But the resources in Argentina for an autistic child and the school system in Argentina…I don’t know. I just feel like I had to give my daughter the same opportunities that I had growing up.”
But almost a year later, the children and Gloria are stuck in Argentina. in a bureaucratic vacuum due to persistent delays in processing their visas.
In fact, last January, the Trump administration banned the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries. Many migrants were already in the process of obtaining visas. Some had already obtained their visa; they were just waiting for the physical visa to be issued to them.
Hoffman’s wife is from Colombia, one of the countries on the list.
Last August, a federal judge ordered the ban lifted, but Hoffman’s family still hasn’t gotten their visas, and the State Department continues to ask them to provide additional evidence proving they have the financial means to live in the United States without becoming a public charge.
Lawyers representing migrants say the Hoffman family’s case is emblematic of a larger problem: They say the Trump administration is not complying with the federal court order and is instead slowing down visa processing.
“So even though technically the ban doesn’t exist, it doesn’t have any practical significance if people still can’t get their green card interview or if their interview isn’t completed and they don’t receive their immigrant visa stamps and therefore can’t enter the United States,” said Alexis Axelrad, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
New training creates additional delays
The visa ban affected more than 280,000 immigrants who had applied for visas by the time the policy took effect in January.
According to an analysis by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, the ban targeted thousands of immediate family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, including spouses and minor children. The Cato report calls it “one of the most extreme legal immigration policies in U.S. history.”
Now stuck in their country and unable to come to the United States, many are rethinking what to do.
The State Department declined to comment for this story, telling NPR that “the matter discussed is the subject of ongoing litigation.” On his websiteThe State Department acknowledges that the visa ban is no longer in effect due to the court’s decision.
This photo taken on June 3, 2026 shows an entrance to the U.S. State Department building in Washington, DC.
Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images
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Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images
The agency told NPR in August that it had suspended visa processing while it launched an extensive “training program” for embassies and consulates on identifying immigrants who could become a burden on taxpayers — a public burden.
This means that even immigrants whose visas have been approved would have to go through additional checks.
This pause is rare, a former State Department consular official told NPR. She asked not to be identified because she fears it could affect her job prospects.
“I’ve never seen a substantial pause in visa processing…really not,” the former consular official said. “The ministry is doing this because it is the president’s policy… reduce illegal immigration, re-emigrate people and only accept refugees from South Africa.”
But families like the Hoffmans are stuck in limbo. He says he misses his daughter, son-in-law and wife every day. He said his daughter cried “all the time” and asked for her father. His wife is overwhelmed.
“Let me put it this way: Our family is family. We have to be there for each other,” Hoffman said. “Like any family, it doesn’t function very well while we’re apart.”
The brightest are left behind
During his first term, President Trump said he wants to attract the brightest immigrants come to the United States
Right-wing organizations, including the America First Policy Institute, have also supported a “merit-based” immigration system.
“The U.S. immigration system should prioritize immigrants with education, skills, and good-paying jobs waiting for them in the United States, because these individuals are most likely to contribute to American society and the economy, to the benefit of all Americans.” the organization wrote in March 2026.
But the battle over visa processing has affected many immigrants who fall into the high-achieving category.
One of them is Dr. Fernando Lizcano, a Colombian national whose research focuses on major cardiovascular health problems in the United States, including obesity.
Courtesy of Dr. Fernando Lizcano
He applied for an EB-1A visa, reserved for immigrants “with extraordinary abilities,” including “an exceptional professor or researcher,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“My intention is to continue my biomedical academic research in the United States,” Lizcano told NPR from his office in Bogota. “(I) also explored opportunities where I could combine all of my experience in endocrinology with molecular biology and translational research.”
Because USCIS considered him qualified for an EB-1A, all he had to do was apply for the visa himself and get it stamped in his passport.
But he is still in Colombia, awaiting final approval from the State Department.
“It’s not fair,” Lizcano said.
The waiting game takes an emotional toll on many immigrants – and their loved ones – whose visas are now on hold.
Hoffman, the U.S. veteran waiting for his wife’s visa to be approved, worries about his own mental health. He told NPR that his doctors increased his psychiatric medications.
“I was fine before all this started,” he said.
He works as an Uber driver, and with Trump’s war in Iran, gas prices have skyrocketed, cutting into his income.
He struggles to pay his mortgage in the United States and his family’s rent in Argentina.
“We are living by a dream and a prayer right now,” Hoffman said.
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