Rabat – People from six Muslim countries – Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – who do not have “a credible claim of a bona fide relationship” in the United States are likely to be refused visas and entry to the country, following the widely-labelled “Muslim ban” that was put in place at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
The order will not affect people who already possess green cards and visas. Dual nationals, those with asylum granted, visa applicants who have been in the US since before June 26 and refugees already admitted to the US (or approved to travel by the US State Department until July 6) are also exempt from the ban.
The US Supreme Court upheld the 90-day ban during its meeting on June 26, but made some changes following worldwide protests after the ban was initially announced on January 27.
Citizens from the countries affected by the ban are likely to be allowed in if they have a close relative in the US, such as spouses, parents, siblings (including step- and half-siblings), children, sons or daughters-in-law.
In a new development, fiancés have been included as a “bona fide” relationship.
However grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, mothers or father-in-law, and other “extended” family are not considered close enough relations to warrant entry.
In some cases, links to entities, including businesses and universities in the US, are sufficient provided there is a “formal and documented” evidence of the relationship.
The Supreme Court also passed a 120-day ban on refugees trying to enter the US, giving the government power to deny entry to refugees who do not have the aforementioned connections to an American person or entity.
However, the relationship between a refugee and their resettlement agency “is not sufficient in and of itself to establish a bona fide relationship,” reported an official from the Trump administration. This is problematic because many refugees only have relationships with non-government resettlement agencies before their arrival in the US.
The US Department of Homeland Security announced it was expecting “business as usual”, but lawyers have arrived at airports across the US in order to offer free advice.
Iraq was removed from the original list of seven banned countries because it has been “an important ally in the fight to defeat ISIS,” announced US Secretary of State Rex Tillotson in March.
It is expected that a final decision regarding the ban will be made when Supreme Court starts its next session in October.
When Donald Trump announced the ban in January 2017, he told US media that the ban of the predominantly Muslim countries was to implement “new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.” This decision followed announcements he made during his campaign for president in 2016, which called for “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US.
