Travel ban

On Friday, January 31, 2020, President Trump issued a new set of travel restrictions for nationals of certain foreign countries. This is an expansion of the “travel ban” issued in 2017, as both draw their power from the Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212(f). The foreign nationals affected are those from Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, and Nigeria. This does not affect nationals of those countries if they are already present in the U.S. For example, if you have a Nigerian employee on H-1B, they may remain employed. You are also perfectly fine to start or continue a permanent residency case (PERM, I-140, I-485) via employment-based sponsorship. Non-immigrant visas, such as H-1b, TN, L-1, O, etc are not impacted. Students are also unaffected. For example, you may continue to employ a Kyrgyzstani student on Optional Practical Training. Nationals from affected countries are also permitted to extend or change status in the U.S.—they may apply for a STEM OPT extension, and/or you may place them into the H-1B lottery. The most heavily affected are those candidates who are outside of the United States and going through National Visa Center processing for an immigrant visa. Nationals of those four countries are no longer able to seek immigrant visas through U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, regardless of the location of the post. If you have candidates who are currently part of the offshore immigrant visa process, you need to inform the candidate as soon as you can that their case may continue to be processed, but that their case will be placed into administrative processing or outright denied if this ban remains in effect. Dual citizens are unaffected so long as they seek an immigrant visa on their non-affected passport. This set of restrictions will affect your employees’ family members who are not in [...]