Supreme Court Allows Trump Travel Ban
The US Supreme Court on December 3, 2017 allowed the newest version of President Donald Trump's travel ban to take effect pending appeal. This is the first time justices have allowed any edition of the ban to go forward in its entirety.
After several updates, this 3.0 version of the travel ban prohibits entry of nonimmigrants and immigrants who are nationals from 8 countries; Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen. Each country has its own set of specific restrictions. Instead of a 90-day vetting period like the first version, this ban is basically indefinite.
Chad: No immigrants or diversity visas will be issued; No nonimmigrants visas B-1, B-2, and B-1/B-2 will be issued; No “bona fide relationship” exception available. **Quick refresher, “bona fide relationship” extends to those who have close family members who are U.S. citizens such as parents, parents-in-law, spouses, fiancé or fiancee, child, adult son or daughter, son or daughter-in-law, sibling, brother or sister-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, first-cousin, and for all listed relationships, half or step relationships is included.
Iran: No immigrants or diversity visas will be issued; no nonimmigrant visas except F, M, and J student visas; No "bona fide relationship" exception available.
Libya: No immigrants or diversity visas will be issued; No nonimmigrant visas B-1, B-2, and B-1/B-2 will be issued; No "Bona fide relationship" exception available.
North Korea: No immigrant, nonimmigrant, or diversity visas will be issued. No “bona fide relationship” exception available.
Somalia: No immigrant or diversity visas; nonimmigrant visas face no restriction; No "bona fide relationship" exception available.
North Korea: No immigrant, nonimmigrant, or diversity visas will be issued. No “bona fide relationship” exception available.
Syria: No immigrant, nonimmigrant, or diversity visas will be issued. No “bona fide relationship” exception available.
Venezuela: No immigrant visa restrictions; No nonimmigrant visas B-1, B-2, and B-1/B-2 will be issued for officials and their immediate family members from the following government agencies: Ministry of Interior, Justice, and Peace; the Administrative Service of Identification, Migration, and Immigration; the Corps of Scientific Investigations, Judicial and Criminal; the Bolivarian Intelligence Service; and the People’s Power Ministry of Foreign Affairs; "Bona fide relationship" exception is available.
Yemen: No immigrants or diversity visas will be issued; No nonimmigrant visas B-1, B-2, and B-1/B-2 will be issued; No "bona fide relationship" exception available.
From these countries, any individual who may be able to obtain a visa will still have to face extensive screening and vetting process upon entering the United States.
How will these new restrictions affect issued visas or currently processing visas?
If you’ve already obtained a visa, then your visa is safely yours. The new order specified that no visas issued before its effective date will be revoked. Therefore, if you’ve obtained a valid visa but have yet to enter the United States, then the restrictions do not apply to you.
If your visa expires after the effective date, then you will not be able to renew your visa if your case is under the restrictions.
If your visa is currently in the works, then here are the specifics:
First, the Trump administration has stated that it won’t cancel previously scheduled visa application appointments.
Second, it’s up to the consular officer to determine if the course of interview whether an applicant’s case is exempt from the new restrictions, be eligible for a waiver, or falls under the 2 phases of restrictions.
Third, The National Visa Center (NVC) continues to work on cases that are in process, so applicants should still pay their fee, complete all necessary forms, and submit the paperwork to the NVC.
For those who are currently applying for the K (fiancé) visa, the NVC is expediting all I-129F petitions. Once the petition and case files are processed, the embassy or consulate will contact you to schedule an interview.
If you recently had an interview at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate, but your case is still being considered:
Make sure you’ve sent in all missing documents and completed any of the administrative processing. The embassy or consulate where you were interviewed will contact you. It’s still up to the consular officer to determine the status of your case.