Country Specific Travel Restrictions Replaces Executive Order Travel Ban

in Executive Order
September 25th, 2017

The travel ban initially imposed by Executive Order will be replaced with new travel restrictions that are category and country specific. President Trump issued a Proclamation pursuant to Section 2(e) of Executive Order 13780, designating eight countries (Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen) for partial or full restrictions on entry to the United States indefinitely. Existing visa-holders, US lawful permanent residents and dual nationals from those countries should remain exempt from restrictions. Waivers requesting exceptions will remain available for travelers with U.S. ties on a case by case basis. Sudan was removed from travel restrictions effective immediately. Part of the original travel ban EO ordered a worldwide review to identify what additional information would be needed from foreign governments to determine if individuals pose a security or public safety threat. After considerable review, the eight named countries were found to have inadequate identity management, national security and public safety information and a lack of proper information sharing practices with other countries. DHS and the State Department will devise a process to assess whether the suspensions should be continued for each country and a report will be submitted with recommendations every 180 days.

Since the new vetting procedures are aimed at replacing the travel ban imposed by Executive Order, the US Supreme Court has cancelled the hearing scheduled for October 10th and has directed the parties to file letter briefs addressing whether, or to what extent, the proclamation issued on September 24, 2017, may render the cases moot.

Please find more details regarding per country travel restrictions and relevant links at the Executive Order Travel Ban page. Please contact a member of the ISSO staff to discuss how restrictions may impact nationals from the eight named countries.