US bans visas for foreign cybercriminals and families

The United States will deny visas to foreign nationals involved in cybercrime and their immediate family members, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday, July 23, 2026. The new global policy targets individuals responsible for or complicit in cyber-enabled crimes such as online investment scams and sextortion, marking a significant escalation in the administration's efforts to dismantle transnational criminal networks that target Americans.

The policy is implemented under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows visa restrictions for individuals whose entry could have serious adverse foreign policy consequences. Rubio stated that the move follows President Donald Trump's executive order on combating cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes, which was signed in March. The administration aims to deploy a full range of tools, including sanctions, prosecutions, asset seizures, extradition requests, and international law enforcement cooperation, against these criminal enterprises.

Officials cited the scale of the threat as a primary justification. Rubio said online investment scams, often orchestrated by Chinese transnational criminal...