BANGKOK, Thailand – 2026 was supposed to be the biggest year of Thai national Khaochat Mankorn’s life.
After submitting the necessary documents to the US Embassy in Bangkok, 27-year-old Khao Chat was ready to start a new life with her American husband in California.
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Khao Chat saw those plans disappear in an instant last week when President Donald Trump’s administration announced that it would indefinitely suspend processing immigrant visa applications from 75 countries, including Thailand.
The U.S. State Department announced it had suspended applications after immigrants to eligible countries claimed “unacceptable rates” for welfare benefits.
Khao Chat, an English tutor in Bangkok, told Al Jazeera, “I’m shocked. I never thought they would interfere with permanent residence visas and marriage visas.”
“But now we have to put everything on pause for many years.”
Khaochat said she hopes to raise her family in the United States and has no intention of claiming welfare.
“If you want to test people, test their language skills and check their financial accounts,” she said. “I have language skills and money. Why should I be prevented from living with the person I love?”
Similar stories about flat tire dreams have been flooding Thai social media in recent days.
Couples have expressed fears of being separated for long periods of time or of their children being denied the right to stay.
Prospective migrant workers have also voiced their disappointment with the changes, which freeze EB-class employment visas and K-class spouse and dependent visas.
Sontam Alsomjit, 26, said he no longer saw a path to the United States after paying $800 to a Thai agent to begin the process of applying for an EB-3 unskilled labor visa.
“My plan was to work on an assembly line making flatbed trailers in Wisconsin,” Alsomjit told Al Jazeera, describing his plan as a long-awaited “turn in life” that would lead to permanent residency.
“Instead, I got a job at a supermarket in Israel,” he said, adding that he was more afraid of poverty than “the danger of war there.”
While some would-be immigrants are hopeful that the suspension will be lifted, President Trump’s suspension appears to be part of a long-term strategy to severely restrict legal immigration into the United States.
Thailand, one of only two US treaty allies in Southeast Asia with formal diplomatic relations dating back to 1833, has expressed disappointment at its inclusion on a list that also includes many poorer, conflict-stricken countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and Myanmar.
Foreign Minister Sihasak Phunketkeo, a candidate for prime minister in next month’s Thai general election, said last week that he had met with the US Chargé d’Affaires, Elizabeth J. Connick, to seek an explanation for the suspension.
Phanketkeo said he questioned the logic of including Thais in the freeze, given their contribution to the US economy and the close ties between Washington and Bangkok. “These questions are not good for relations,” he said.
For many Thais, the sense of injustice is shaped by the relative success of the Thai diaspora in the United States, many of whom built lucrative businesses after immigrating to take low-wage jobs in restaurants, warehouses, and factories.
According to the Pew Research Center, the median annual income for Thai households in 2023 will be $82,000, higher than the national average of $75,000.
Thailand, once a key U.S. base in the fight against communism and more recently an ally countering China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, has had increasingly strained relations with its oldest treaty ally since Trump returned to office.
Like other export-dependent countries in Southeast Asia, Thailand has weathered significant economic disruption from President Trump’s tariffs.
Thailand’s exports to the United States have been subject to a 19% tariff since August, but negotiations on a comprehensive trade agreement have stalled over U.S. demands to open local markets to giant food producers.
“The Trump administration has no respect for the relationship. It has a transactional worldview,” Phil Robertson, an American citizen based in Thailand and director of the Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocacy Group, told Al Jazeera.
Robertson called President Trump’s policies “callous and cruel” and predicted the administration would “create so many hurdles and so much bureaucracy” that it would be impossible to immigrate to the United States.
Not all Thais see this change as a problem.
Ms. Noy, who lives in Niceville, Florida, with her American husband, said she supports the Trump administration’s efforts to limit the ability of immigrants to apply for welfare.
“Since the Trump administration, there has been an effort to stop using our tax dollars to support immigrants from different countries,” Noy, who has a green card that allows permanent residence in the United States, told Al Jazeera.
“Of course this affects different countries where it’s banned. But people are waking up and seeing what’s going on.”
For Khaochat, the collapse of the dream carries a painful irony.
“My partner voted for Trump,” she said.
