A US court has rejected a policy introduced under President Donald Trump that suspended the processing of immigrant visa applications for citizens of 75 countries, according to the reports.
According to an international news agency, a New York district judge issued the ruling on Friday. The judge said the US State Department had gone beyond the legal powers given to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
What did the court say?
The court said the visa policy introduced in January was against federal immigration law. It ruled that the policy could not remain in place.
The judge also said the government did not have the legal authority to stop immigrant visa processing on such a wide scale through an administrative decision. The court found that the policy went beyond the limits of federal immigration law.
Following the ruling, the broad suspension on immigrant visa processing for citizens of 75 countries including Pakistan was lifted.
Neither President Trump nor the US State Department has commented on the ruling so far. Trump has previously criticised court decisions that blocked or overturned his executive orders.
Was Pakistan included?
Pakistan was among the countries affected by the policy. Bangladesh, Iran and Russia were also included in the list of 75 countries.
The Trump administration had stopped processing immigrant visa applications from these countries in January.
The US State Department had said that some immigrants from these countries could become a public burden in the future.
Immigrant rights groups had challenged the policy in court. The case was then heard by a district court in New York.