Donald Trump extends travel ban to 3 more countries, lifts ban on Sudan

Donald Trump, the US President, has banned visas for travel to America from eight countries on 24 September, as he lifted restrictions on people arriving from Sudan.

The original ban, which was supposed to be applicable only up to 24 September, remains for the five countries: Somalia, Iran, Libya, Yemen and Syria, and visitors from three more countries — North Korea, Venezuela and Chad — have also been barred in the new presidential order.

In a proclamation that was issued, Trump barred the grant of all types of visas for North Koreans and Syrian, while for Iranians, most visas were blocked, but they will continue to be issued for students and exchange visitors. No immigrant, tourist or business visas would be issued for nationals of Libya, Chad and Yemen.

Visas have also been blocked, as per the order, for government officials wanting to arrive on business or tourist visas from Venezuela. Meanwhile, the order blocks immigrant visas for Somalia and stated that other travellers from that country would have to go through additional scrutiny.

The restrictions will be effective from 18 October for North Korea, Venezuela and Chad. For the other five countries, on which ban was imposed earlier, it will not be applicable for close relatives until 18 October as imposed by the Supreme Court.

Instead of continuing blanket bans, the administration said that new standards would be devised for each country, which would depend on factors' like whether countries share data about criminal histories of travellers or utilise electronic passports with embedded visitor information.

NBC News quotes the proclamation as saying that the government would mull options on removing restrictions on one or more countries if they have genuinely bettered their information-sharing protocols, identity-management and procedures.

Raj Shah, the deputy White House spokesman, told reporters in the third week of September that the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) had given Trump on 15 September a list of non-compliant countries.

Miles Taylor, the counsellor to acting Homeland Security Secretary, said that their goal was not to block indefinitely certain nationals from coming to the US, but it was to protect their countrymen until certain foreign governments begin to abide by their standards and stop being a risk.

He added that on their list were a range of countries, which were wilfully non-compliant and non-engaging and others that were unable to meet the requirements, though they were interested in doing so. Taylor said that there were some other countries which were not all keen on complying with the US on any of the requirements.

If you are looking to travel to the US, get in touch with Y-Axis, a renowned company for immigration services, to apply for a visa.