Trump Adds Venezuela, North Korea and Chan to New Travel Ban

The list of countries that are directly affected by the travel ban enforced by Donald Trump, America’s President, has expanded to include Venezuela, North Korea and Chad. This severely limits the people from these countries from travelling to the United States. It also causes a concern for many Americans who live in the United States because this can disable them from bringing their family members to the United States. Therefore, in this article, I will address how this new travel ban with the new included countries affects Americans and foreign nationals alike.

How the Travel Ban will Affect Americans & Foreign Nationals

The primary individuals that will be affected by this new travel ban are the individuals that were already a part of the travel ban, including citizens from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia. Earlier this year, Sudan was also included in this list of countries; however, this country is no longer in the list of banned countries. As of recent, Venezuela, North Korea and Chad were included in this list for several different reasons. For instance, the travel ban for Venezuela only affects government officials; the rest of the country’s citizens may travel to the United States but will undergo heightened security screening.

Whereas for the other countries, such as North Korea and Chad, President Donald Trump announced that the United States will be enhancing vetting capabilities and processes for detecting attempted entry into the United States by terrorists and/or other public-safety threats. Therefore, on October 18, this new travel ban is set to be implemented and enforced throughout the United States.

It is important to note that the previously travel ban that was enforced earlier this year was temporary in nature. However, this new travel ban is said to be indefinite. With this new travel ban, the United States have also implemented a regulation that allows for U.S. officials to assess each individual based on a country-by-country and case-by-case basis as opposed to the umbrella ban that was previously implemented. The new order is said to have the most strict guidelines and restrictions on Syria and North Korea. As a result, any citizen from either of these countries will be denied visas to enter the United States.

To better understands the guidelines and restrictions for the current countries that have a travel ban, I have included a chart below.

Venezuela

Interestingly enough, the United States is the largest trading partner of Venezuela. For instance, bilateral trade in goods and services between the United States and Venezuela had reached an approximate $23.9 billion in the year of 2015. Additionally, many Americans can trace their heritage back to Venezuela. Therefore, there are many significant ties between the United States and Venezuela.

However, recently, Venezuela has succumbed to political and economic disorder. There are several anti-government protests in the streets of the South American country which occur on a daily basis. This has unfortunately caused inflation and a raise in unemployment rates and crime rates.

Conclusively, the administration in the United States has concluded that Venezuela’s government does not consider nor share public-safety and terrorism-related information appropriately. Thus, the restrictions on Venezuela focus on specifically their government officials who are responsible for the inadequacies. It is also important to note that any citizens of Venezuela who are current visa holders may be subject to additional security measures and screening to ensure that traveler information remains accurate and current.

Consequences of the Travel Ban

In the U.S., there have been several cases where individuals who had valid visas to enter the U.S. were denied entry and in some extreme cases, their visas were cancelled because of this travel ban. These decisions were ultimately made by U.S. border officials. Many individuals as well as government officials in the United States actually feel as though the travel ban restrictions enforce discrimination based on religious grounds. For instance, the majority of the countries that are a part of this travel ban are Muslim-majority countries.

For many Americans and American travellers, this travel ban can be extremely deleterious. As previously mentioned, there are many individuals that believe the travel ban is illogical, discriminatory, and very un-American. Consequently, there are several sentiments from individuals, either American or foreign, who truly believe that these exclusions and restrictions will not make America safer and it will cause further conflict going forward. Especially since this new travel ban is indefinite towards Syria and North Korea. There is already a large amount of conflict between the United States and these countries and this travel ban can ultimately cause more turmoil and conflict in the future which would not be very beneficial for the United States.

Contact Akrami & Associates

For more information on U.S. matters and different visa applications you can submit, please refer to our different blogs. If you would like more information on the travel ban that was implemented earlier this year, please refer to our blog “U.S. Supreme Court May Enforce Travel Ban.” To obtain any visa in the U.S., it is highly recommended that you seek out professional and experienced help before attempting to submit the application. Here, at Akrami & Associates, we work and have experience with many different immigration issues. We have helped many of our clients visit the United States. If you believe that you may be eligible to apply for a visa to the U.S., please feel free to contact Akrami & Associates at our office at 416-477-2545 for more information or if you would like to book a consultation with an immigration professional for more advice.

With Akrami & Associates, there is always a way!