Trump Signs Revised Travel Ban Executive Order

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Today, President Trump signed an Executive Order that revised his earlier travel ban Executive Order that was issued on January 27, 2017.

The revised travel ban Executive Order, which goes into effect on March 16, 2017,  is different in several important respects:

  • The revised 90-day travel ban now only impacts individuals from six countries (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen).  Iraq is no longer included.
     
  • The Executive Order specifically states that Individuals from the "list of six" countries who hold U.S. Permanent Resident ("Green Card") status are not included in the travel ban.
     
  • The Executive Order specifically states that individuals from the "list of six" countries who are dual citizens of one of the "list of six" countries and another non-listed country are not included in the travel ban if they are travelling using a passport from a non-listed country.
     
  • Individuals from the "list of six" countries who have already been issued a valid visa are not included in the travel ban.
     
  • The Executive Order still includes a 120-day suspension of refugee admissions, but the previous indefinite suspension of refugee admissions from Syria is now a 120-day suspension.  The reduction of the annual refugee limit of 50,000 remains intact.  

So, in summary, the individuals who will be most directly impacted by the revised travel ban will be individuals from the "list of six" countries who are currently outside the U.S. and have not yet applied for a U.S. visa.  This revised Executive Order also appears only to impact individuals seeking admission to the U.S.  It does not appear to impact the processing of immigration benefits applications (such as immigration status extensions, green card applications or citizenship applications) filed by individuals presently in the U.S. in a valid immigration status.

Individuals who are from one of the "list of six" countries who are currently in the U.S., but need to travel outside the U.S. and would need to obtain a new visa to return will be barred from entering until travel ban is lifted.  Thus, we strongly advise that individuals in this situation should not travel outside the U.S. without speaking to an Ellis Porter immigration attorney.

On a positive note, the revised travel ban Executive Order does include an expanded list of situations that may qualify for a discretionary waiver of the travel ban.  However, it is yet to be seen how such waiver requests will be processed and decided.  To assess whether you may qualify for one of the discretionary waiver criteria, please contact an Ellis Porter immigration attorney.

Ellis Porter is in the process of preparing a more detailed FAQ regarding the revised travel ban and we will be publishing that shortly.