DONALD Trump’s administration has set new rules for all refugees and visa applicants from six mainly Muslim nations requiring a “close” family or business tie to the United States.
The move came after the US Supreme Court partially restored President Trump’s executive order that was widely criticised as a ban on Muslims.
Visas that have already been approved will not be revoked. However – under the new instructions issued by the State Department – for an application from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen to be eligible, new applicants must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the US.
The same requirement, with some exceptions, also holds for would-be refugees from all nations still awaiting approval for admission to the US.
Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers and sisters-in-law, fiancées or other extended family members are not considered to be close relationships, according to the guidelines issued in a cable sent to all US embassies and consulates late on Wednesday.
The new rules took effect as of yesterday.
On Monday, the Supreme Court partially lifted lower court injunctions against Trump’s executive order that had temporarily banned visas for citizens of the six countries.
The justices’ ruling exempted applicants from the ban if they could prove a “bona fide relationship” with a US person or entity, but the court offered only broad guidelines as to how that should be defined – suggesting they would include a relative, job offer or invitation to lecture in the US.
Senior officials from the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security had laboured since the decision to clarify the ruling and Wednesday’s instructions were the result.
As far as business or professional links are concerned, the State Department said a legitimate relationship must be “formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course rather than for the purpose of evading” the ban.
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