The U.S. State Department has ordered embassies to slow resettlement of refugees for the next few weeks and delay booking travel for refugees after March 3 as the numbers approach the annual cap of 50,000 set recently by President Donald Trump, according to American officials.

U.S. officials from embassies in the Middle East said they received a directive Tuesday from the State Department’s Population, Refugee and Migration bureau to delay booking travel to the U.S. for refugees awaiting final resettlement after March 3. The directive said the numbers of refugees already admitted is close to Mr. Trump’s cap for 2017.

A Jan. 27 executive order from Mr. Trump temporarily suspended all immigration and travel to the U.S. for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations—an action the administration said was necessary to thwart terrorist attacks. It also suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees.

The same order also cut the annual limit for refugees for the year ending October 2017 to less than half of the previous administration’s 110,000 ceiling.

Provisions within the executive order—such as the suspension of the refugee program and the travel and immigration bans—are being challenged in U.S. courts. Last week, a federal-appeals court ruling stayed parts of the executive order, lifting the immigration and travel bans and restarting the flow of refugees.