WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most U.S. visa applicants who were denied because of former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on 13 predominantly Muslim and African countries can apply for new decisions or file new applications. tenders, the State Department said Monday.
President Joe Biden overturned Trump’s so-called Muslim ban on January 20, his first day in office, and called it a “stain on our national conscience” in his proclamation.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said applicants who were denied a visa before Jan. 20, 2020 must submit new applications and pay a new application fee. . Those who were denied on or after Jan. 20, 2020, can request a reconsideration without resubmitting applications and not having to pay additional fees, Price said.
Applicants selected in the diversity visa lottery before the current fiscal year are prohibited by U.S. law from issuing visas if they have not yet obtained them, he said. The diversity lottery aims to accept immigrants from countries that are not normally granted many visas.
Since December 2017, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a revised version of the original travel ban, some 40,000 people have been banned from entering the United States under the ban, according to State Department data .
During the Trump administration some countries were added and others were removed from the list. By the end of Trump’s presidency, it included Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Report by Eric Beech; Edited by Christopher Cushing