After the US visa denial of nearly 25,000 immigrants from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen under President Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban”, they are currently allowed to reapply for free.
The decision came under a deal between immigrant groups and the Biden administration, which was approved by a federal judge in San Francisco, VisaGuide.World reports.
Over 41,000 Visas Denied Under Trump’s Travel Ban Between 2017-2021
In January 2021, when Biden rescinded former President Donald Trump’s ban on immigrant visas, it was also revealed that over the past four years, more than 41,000 visa applications have been denied.
Individuals from the above seven Muslim countries were denied a visa under Proclamation 9645 between December 8, 2017, and January 20, 2021, but they did not receive a waiver and have not received a visa since.
The settlement stipulates that the Department of State must notify class members within 30 days and provide final instructions within 80 days. Class members are entitled to submit new visa applications and receive a one-time, non-transferable fee credit. The Department is required to accept new nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications from class members for 365 days, provide fee credits, and schedule consular appointments.
New Opportunities for Visa Applicants Affected by Trump’s Travel Ban
According to Reddy Neumann Brown PC (Houston’s largest immigration law firm), the following parameters will be used to identify class members:
- Individuals who filed a nonimmigrant visa application or immigrant visa application and were denied under PP 9645 between December 8, 2017, and January 20, 2021
- No waiver of that visa refusal was issued
- The individual was ultimately not granted a visa for the same visa application after Proclamation 9645 was revoked
- The visa requested and denied under PP 9645 was NOT a diversity visa application
- Since the cancellation of PP 9645 on January 20, 2021, the applicant has not made another application for a nonimmigrant or immigrant visa
During his 2016 campaign, Trump declared that “Islam hates us” and would ban all Muslim immigration to the US. At the same time, he released his first version of the travel ban a few days after taking office, barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.
In response to this decision two months later, federal courts struck it down as discrimination based on religion and nationality. However, when Biden took office, he reversed the ban, but people are still affected.
In September 2017, through its final version, Trump banned most immigrants from entering the US from five predominantly Muslim nations or North Korea and officials from Venezuela. The Supreme Court allowed it to take effect in December of the same year. It ruled 5-4 in June 2018 that Trump had acted within his authority to determine that admitting certain “classes of aliens” would harm the national interest.