Effective April 22, 2020, President Trump issued a Proclamation banning the issuance of immigrant visas to foreign nationals to enter into the United States; this includes both employment based and family based immigrant visas. The ban has been issued for a period of 60 days and can be extended by the President. However, the Proclamation has numerous exceptions and limitations. Most importantly, the ban does NOT apply to anyone who is inside of the United States as of the effective time and date of the order, which is 11:59 pm eastern daylight time on April 23, 2020. For those that are in the U.S. and are going through the adjustment of status process, naturalization, change of status, or an extension of status, whether you have already filed or not, they will NOT be affected by the ban. It is also noteworthy that the travel ban does NOT impact applicants for asylum. Other individuals that are exempt from the travel ban are as follow (the ban does NOT affect these people):
- Spouses of U.S. citizens;
- Anyone with a valid immigrant visa as of the effective date of the order;
- Anyone with a valid advance parole document who has travelled abroad;
- Anyone who is already a permanent resident (green card holder);
- Children of U.S. Citizens or adoptees seeking to enter pursuant to IR-4 or IH-4;
- Members of U.S. Armed Forces and any spouses and children of members of U.S. Armed Forces;
- SIV (SI/SQ classification) applicants and their spouses and children;
- Anyone entering on an EB-5 investor visa;
- Any alien whose entry would be in the national interest;
- Any alien entering seeking an immigrant visa who is a physician, nurse, or other healthcare professional (and their spouse/children); to perform medical research or other research intended to combat COVID-19;
- Any alien whose entry would further important U.S. law enforcement objectives;
For our clients that do not fit within the exemptions, unless your case is currently scheduled for an immigrant visa interview overseas, or within the next 60 days, this order will not affect the processing of your case at this time. Additionally, the order does not halt the scheduling of the interviews for your case either. We will be reaching out to those clients individually to discuss the next steps.
We hope the above clarifies the content of the Proclamation as it relates to you.
-JEELANI LAW FIRM, PLC
