UN delegations raise concerns over US visa decisions

Delegations raised concerns about US visa decisions and travel restrictions at a meeting of the UN General Assembly’s legal committee on 6 November, saying they were hindering participation in the organisation’s work.

The Palestinian observer said the United States had denied entry visas to the Palestinian delegation for a second consecutive year, preventing it from attending General Assembly meetings in person. Sudan’s representative said the chairman of its Transitional Sovereignty Council was denied a visa, preventing him from attending the assembly’s high-level week and delivering Sudan’s statement, according to United Nations Press.

Speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement, Iran’s representative opposed visa denials and what he called arbitrary movement restrictions. Malaysia’s representative said visas needed to be issued promptly and that the host country’s obligations should not depend on bilateral relations.

The US representative said her government took its obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement seriously and urged missions to contact the US mission with concerns. She reiterated Washington’s view that it retained authority over travel restrictions and other benefits outside the scope of those obligations. Her remarks, as reported by UN Press, did not address the Palestinian or Sudanese cases individually.

The 1947 headquarters agreement says US authorities must not obstruct travel to and from UN headquarters for specified categories of people, regardless of relations between their governments and Washington. It says required visas for those people must be issued free of charge and as promptly as possible, while preserving US authority over entry and residence outside the agreement’s exceptions. The text alone does not determine whether a particular decision breached the agreement.

In a 2025 resolution, the General Assembly expressed serious concern about several cases of visas being denied, withheld or issued late. It also noted a relative decrease in the percentage of visas not issued, without giving a figure.