State Department Cable Directs Consular Officers to Deny Visas for Diabetes, Obesity, and Chronic Illness

A Nov. 6, 2025 cable from Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed consular officers worldwide to deny both immigrant and non-immigrant visas to applicants with chronic health conditions—including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety, and cancer—if they could not demonstrate ability to cover lifetime treatment costs. Immigration lawyers called it the biggest shift in medical inadmissibility rules in decades.