President Trump has issued an executive order temporarily restricting travel from 7 countries:
Here is a description of how this may affect your medical meeting in the coming months:
Sec. 3. Suspension of Issuance of Visas and Other Immigration Benefits to Nationals of Countries of Particular Concern. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, shall immediately conduct a review to determine the information needed from any country to adjudicate any visa, admission, or other benefit under the INA (adjudications) in order to determine that the individual seeking the benefit is who the individual claims to be and is not a security or public-safety threat.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the President a report on the results of the review described in subsection (a) of this section, including the Secretary of Homeland Security’s determination of the information needed for adjudications and a list of countries that do not provide adequate information, within 30 days of the date of this order. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide a copy of the report to the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence.
(c) To temporarily reduce investigative burdens on relevant agencies during the review period described in subsection (a) of this section, to ensure the proper review and maximum utilization of available resources for the screening of foreign nationals, and to ensure that adequate standards are established to prevent infiltration by foreign terrorists or criminals, pursuant to section 212(f) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f), I hereby proclaim that the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens from countries referred to in section 217(a)(12) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and I hereby suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants and nonimmigrants, of such persons for 90 days from the date of this order (excluding those foreign nationals traveling on diplomatic visas, North Atlantic Treaty Organization visas, C-2 visas for travel to the United Nations, and G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 visas).
The Executive Order bans the citizens of seven countries—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen—from entering the U.S. on any visa category.
After initial confusion over which countries this order refers to, the Department of Homeland Security issued a fact sheet that specified Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.
On 1/27/2017 this EO also affected individuals who are permanent residents of the U.S. (green-card holders) who were traveling overseas to visit family or for work—though a senior administration official said their applications would be considered on a case-by-case basis with enhanced screening.
The order also targets individuals of those countries who hold dual citizenship with another country. For instance, an individual who holds both Iraqi and Canadian citizenships.
The 90-day restriction stands until on or around May 1, 2017. Please note that all visa application processes are currently halted for citizens of any of the target countries. This may have a long-standing effect on medical meetings taking place beyond the May 1st, 2017 deadline even if the restriction expires on that date and the processes return to normal. It is expected, however, that after May 1, 2017, the restrictions will either continue as per the Executive Order or new, more complicated, extreme vetting processes will come into effect, making it difficult for anyone from the target countries requesting US visas to do so in a timely manner.
Please note that the Executive Order also reserves the right to add countries to the list in accordance with their investigations.
Sec. 8. Visa Interview Security. (a) The Secretary of State shall immediately suspend the Visa Interview Waiver Program and ensure compliance with section 222 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1222, which requires that all individuals seeking a nonimmigrant visa undergo an in-person interview, subject to specific statutory exceptions.
The State Department has suspended the Visa Interview Waiver Program, which allows certain repeat visa applicants to forego in-person interviews. The move was part of a broader set of actions included in President Donald Trump’s Jan 27th executive order. The Department of Homeland Security said that the order included the immediate suspension of the program, which allows frequent visitors to the U.S. to bypass in-person interviews with a U.S. consular officer when they need to renew a travel visa. The length of visas varies, depending on the individual and their country.
Who is not affected?
The executive order applies only to non-U.S. citizens, so anyone with U.S. citizenship—whether that person in natural-born or naturalized—is not affected. It also does not apply to individuals who hold U.S. citizenship along with citizenship of another country.
Information taken from:
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/31/512439121/trumps-executive-order-on-immigration-annotated
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/donald-trump-travel-ban/
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/scientists-lives-upended-trump-s-immigration-ord
http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Government/Trump-order-ceases-Visa-Interview-Waiver-Program
