Students from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen accepted to universities in the U. S. can still come under the new travel ban.
A revised version of the Trump administration’s travel ban is set to go into effect Thursday at 8 p.m. E. T., after the administration’s original ban was suspended by federal judges in March.
The limited ban is expected to effect far fewer travelers than the original ban. Citizens from six majority-Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — who have no previous ties to the U. S. will be barred from entering under the ban.
The U. S. will allow entry of citizens from those countries who have a “bona fide relationship” with a U. S. entity (school, job, etc.) or a relationship with a U. S. citizen (spouse or close family) .
So where does that leave international students who are studying in the U. S.?
Students who receive an acceptance letter from a U. S. university will be allowed entry to the country with a valid visa, as they are seen to have a “bona fide relationship” with a U. S. entity.
“Yesterday evening the Department of State issued a cable which provided a little bit of guidance, particularly as it pertains to students, ” says Karen Pita Loor, a clinical associate professor of law at Boston University with a specialization in immigration law and policy. “And what they said is not only students with valid visas, but also their dependents would not have a problem traveling.”
Govt says a person CAN enter US to attend university (thus, an adult with no ties) , but a 3-year-old grandchild is a NO, under travel ban.
— Michelle Kosinski (@MichLKosinski) June 29,2017
Loor says that students who already have F1 visas, for those attending a university, or M1 visas, for those attending a vocational or technical school, should have no problem traveling. The dependents of the students should also have no problem traveling, if they have valid F2 visas.
There has been concern for incoming students who have just been accepted to a U. S. university and have not yet received a visa, but Loor sees no reason those students should have problems.
“The form that the academic institution needs to provide the student for them to be able to apply for the visa is called an I20 form, ” she explains. “If they have that information and they go to the U. S. consulate in their country, then the consulate office should provide them with a visa based on this.
Susan Akram, another Boston University clinical professor of law who specializes in immigration law and policy, echoed the question about how the ban will actually be implemented by agencies once it goes into effect.
“ [The ban] is still going to be applied on the ground by hundreds of individual officers, and they’ re going to have a lot of discretion in terms of what they decide this ‘bona fide relationship’ involves, ” Akram says. “If [students] have a visa or an acceptance letter from a university and they’ re from one of the six countries they should be able to enter, but that’s going to be very much up to the determination of the officers who are being presented with [the information] either at the consulate issuing a visa or on entry when the immigration customs and border patrol officer looks at the visa.”
Akram says those who will be most impacted by the ban are those who visit the U. S. for travel or on business.
“I think students are in the group that’s most likely to be waived under this language, ” Akram says. “But there are all these other types of visas where the basis for the visa is not an established relationship [with the U. S.] and I think there are going to be a lot of folks in those categories who are going to choose not to travel to the United States.”
The Supreme Court plans to hear arguments on all the elements of the ban in October.
