The United States government has revoked all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders, citing the African nation’s refusal to repatriate its citizens and warning of “abuse” of U.S. immigration protocols.
The announcement was made on Saturday, April 6, 2025, by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as tensions in South Sudan spiral toward what many fear could be another devastating civil war.
Rubio, in a sternly worded statement, accused South Sudan’s transitional government of failing to cooperate with U.S. deportation efforts and “taking advantage of the United States,” triggering one of the most drastic immigration crackdowns against a single country in recent American history.
“Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner,” Rubio said. “South Sudan’s transitional government has failed to fully respect this principle.”
The decision also halts all future visa issuance for South Sudanese passport holders, effectively barring new entries into the U.S. from South Sudan.
This marks the first country-wide visa revocation since President Donald Trump returned to office on January 20, 2025, on an aggressively anti-immigration platform.
Many South Sudanese nationals had previously been shielded under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program introduced by the Biden administration, a policy meant to protect those who cannot safely return to their homeland due to war or humanitarian crises.
That protection is set to expire on May 3, 2025, placing thousands at risk of deportation or legal midpoint.
The visa ban comes against the backdrop of renewed political violence and instability in South Sudan, which has struggled to maintain peace following a brutal civil war that killed over 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.
Tensions between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar exploded last month when Machar was arrested, a move his party says collapses the 2018 peace agreement that temporarily ended the war.
The United Nations has raised alarm bells, with Secretary-General António Guterres warning that South Sudan is teetering “over the abyss,” facing what he called a “security emergency” due to clashes between government forces and opposition troops near the capital, Juba.
The revocation of visas now places thousands of South Sudanese living legally in the U.S. under direct threat.
For families, students, workers, and asylum seekers many of whom fled unimaginable violence, this could be a devastating blow.
Human rights advocates have decried the U.S. move as punitive and cruel, arguing that it targets vulnerable populations instead of holding political leaders accountable.
“This measure won’t stop the crisis in South Sudan, it will only punish its victims,” said one U.S. based immigration attorney.
“People who sought refuge are now being used as pawns in a political standoff.”
Secretary Rubio maintained that the ban could be reversed, but only if South Sudan shows “full cooperation” in accepting deported nationals and restoring diplomatic compliance.
Until then, South Sudanese in America and abroad are left to navigate a dangerous new reality caught between a collapsing peace back home and tightening borders abroad.
