msepostdoc-list Fwd: FW: International Travel Ban

[Donna Bystrom]

Everyone:

We are passing on the following proclamation regarding the country's new 
travel ban.  This information was sent to us from the International 
Scholar Services office.  Please read, carefully, the attached message 
before you make plans to travel out of the country.
Donna



“New” Travel Ban

The administration issued a Proclamation on September 24, 2017, amending 
the existing Travel Ban.  The September 24 Proclamation essentially 
revives Section 2(c) (relating to visa applications by certain foreign 
nationals) effective October 18, 2017, and alters the affected 
countries. The new "list of 8" countries comprises Chad, Iran, Libya, 
North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. The specific nature of 
the Travel Ban depends on the country in question. Suspension of entry 
will not apply to individuals who (1) Hold greencards, (2) Have been 
admitted to or paroled into the U.S. on or after October 18, 2017, (3) 
Have been issued a travel document other than a visa (such as an advance 
parole document) which is valid on or after October 18, 2017, and 
others. The Proclamation provides that waivers may be granted on a 
case-by-case basis and lists specific examples of situations where a 
waiver might be available, including circumstances where the individual 
has a prior history of work or study in the U.S. or where the 
prospective entry is for "professional or business obligations" (which 
arguably could include new employment in the US). For more information, 
please see our detailed explanation of the Travel Ban on the 
IntlScholars Sharepoint 
<https://sp2013.itap.purdue.edu/ippu/iss/intlscholars/ImmiWiki/Travel%20Ban.aspx> 
site.

What Does the “New” Travel Ban Mean?

*_Travel: _*ISS continues to strongly recommend that our international 
faculty, staff and scholars do not engage in any unnecessary travel.

·We strongly recommend that individuals who hold passport from the 
countries listed above use extreme caution before engaging in any 
travel, regardless of whether they already hold a visa.

·Possession of an unexpired visa does not guarantee admission. Customs 
and Border Protection (CBP) Officers "inspect" foreign nationals at land 
/ sea ports-of-entry and at airports to evaluate whether admission may 
be granted. We are seeing a slightly higher rate of denial of admission 
by the CBP in general. CBP is permitted to revoke the visa of an 
individual who is denied admission.  For example, this is happening (but 
is not limited to) to individuals who have visited one of the listed 
countries in the past.

·Visa Applications in general are taking longer, and there is a much 
higher rate of Administrative Processing.  There is nothing by law that 
ISS or Purdue can do to impact the duration of Administrative Processing.

*_Pending Permanent Residents_*: Individuals who have a Form I-140 
approved are not yet permanent residents, and thus are subject to the 
Travel Ban in terms of visa issuance.  At this time, it does not appear 
that pending or new adjustment of status applications will be affected 
by the Travel Ban.

*_No Time Limit_*: The ban, as envisioned by the Proclamation, does not 
have a time-limit – in other words, it does not have a pre-set end date. 
The ban for any given country continues until it is lifted.  The DHS 
will evaluate the ban 180 days from implementation and every 180 days 
thereafter.

*_No "Bona Fide Relationship":_* The Proclamation eliminates the Supreme 
Court's "bona fide relationship" standard.  The Proclamation does 
specify F, J and M visas in its provisions, but work visas (such as but 
not limited to H-1B) are not listed in the Proclamation as a 
consideration. A current, pre-existing or prospective work relationship 
is a possible basis for a waiver, but should not be considered a 
guarantee of waiver issuance.

*_Please distribute this summary to your departments and international 
faculty, staff and scholars._*

Best regards,

International Scholar Services