The State Department announced a freeze on immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries, effective Jan. 21, placing a sudden chokehold on a pipeline that sent more than 200,000 students to U.S. colleges in 2024–25. The pause covers immigrant visas only, the department said; nonimmigrant student and tourist visas are not supposed to be affected. Campus leaders and international-recruitment offices say the suspension threatens graduate programs and research partnerships that rely on steady flows of newly admitted international scholars and could force expedited switches to remote starts or deferrals for affected applicants. Universities with large cohorts from the listed countries — many of which are lower-income or politically unstable — will face admissions paperwork backlogs, visa uncertainty for newly admitted students, and possible financial hits from deferred tuition and housing. Higher-education international offices and consortia are already mobilizing to track affected applicants, advise deferral or remote-enrollment options, and press the State Department for timelines and exemptions.