As of June 29, 2017, The Executive Order 13780, as issued by President Trump went into effect based on the order of the Supreme Court. In our last article we had mentioned how this is not a complete ban, but partial. This blog post will cover the exceptions to the rule.
Non-Immigrant Visa Classes that Are Exempt:
As noted in our previous post, the ban is not applicable to foreign nationals who have a relationship or entity in the US. This could be a job offer, college acceptance, or a tie with a person in the US. Visa Applicants who are seeking to come to the US with a B, C-1, C-3, D or I visa, will need to make a strong claim to the Consular Officer at their visa interview. This is done by taking plenty of evidence to validate their claim of a close, familial relationship with the person they are coming to see in the US or a formal and well documented relationship with an entity in the US.
Another exemption is the filing of a waiver.
Non-Immigrant applicants who are applying for a visa that is not listed above, are exempt from this order as they already hold a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship.” An example of this would be an F-1, student visa, whose bona fide relationship is when the college or university in which they received admissions. For an H-1B, their exemption is their relationship with their employer who has sponsored them for their visa.
But this also does not disqualify them from the consular officer requesting additional information for their case, as a proof of their bonafide relationship.
Immigrant Visa Classes Exemptions:
Immigrant Visa applicants who are in the immediate relative and/or the family based immigrant visa categories are exempt from this Executive Order, as having the relationship is a requirement of the visa itself. Applicants who are being sponsored for a green card by their employers also are exempt from this Executive Order for the same reason.
Other applicants, who do not fall into this exemption, like Diversity Visa Applicants will still need to prove a bona fide familial relationship with a person or entity in the US.
To clarify, a close familial relationship is defined by USCIS, as relationship with a parent, child, fiancee, parent or child in law, but does not include grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, or extended family members.
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