A court order ending the Trump administration’s immigrant-visa ban has not brought thousands of applicants any closer to joining family or starting work in the United States, as consular processing remains delayed months after the policy was blocked. The administration halted immigrant-visa processing in January for citizens of 75 countries. More than 280,000 applicants were affected, including people whose cases were already underway and some who had won approval but were still waiting for their visa documents. A federal judge ordered the ban lifted in August. The State Department says on its website that the ban is no longer in effect. But applicants continue to face backlogs and additional screening, including checks on whether they might become a “public charge” by relying on government benefits. The department told NPR it could not comment because the matter is in litigation. Immigration lawyers say the gap between the court ruling and its practical effect is leaving families in limbo. Alexis Axelrad, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said applicants may still be unable to get interviews completed or receive visa stamps that would let them travel. Dustin Hoffman, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, began visa paperwork late last year for his wife, Gloria, a Colombian citizen. Their 5-year-old daughter and Hoffman’s 12-year-old stepson are with Gloria in Argentina, where the family lived together. The State Department has continued to request financial evidence from the family, Hoffman said. Hoffman moved to Argentina in 2013 after his military deployment. He said he wants his daughter, who is autistic, to have access to educational and other resources he believes are better available in the United States. He now works as an Uber driver while trying to cover his U.S. mortgage and his family’s rent in Argentina. The State Department said in August that it had paused visa processing while training embassy and consular staff to identify applicants who could become a public charge. A former consular officer, who spoke anonymously because of concerns about future job prospects, described a substantial pause of this kind as unusual. The delays extend beyond family cases. Dr. Fernando Lizcano, a Colombian researcher whose work focuses on cardiovascular health issues including obesity, is waiting in Bogotá for final visa approval. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had found him eligible for an EB-1A visa, a category for people with extraordinary ability, but he still needs the State Department to issue the visa. The policy has put the administration’s stated interest in attracting highly skilled immigrants alongside its effort to tighten screening for potential reliance on public benefits. A merit-based immigration system has support among some conservative policy groups, which argue that the country should prioritize immigrants with valuable skills and jobs waiting for them. But the continuing delays are also holding up close relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. For families such as the Hoffmans, the consequences are immediate: prolonged separation, mounting expenses and uncertainty about when government processing will resume. Hoffman said his doctors have increased his psychiatric medication since the separation began. “Our family is a family. We need to be there for each other,” he said.