Grandparents of US citizens from six travel-ban nations eligible for visas

Grandparents of American citizens hailing from six Muslim-majority nations, where travel ban was revived, will now be eligible to receive US visas, stated a US State Department memo. The memo from Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, was sent to all US diplomatic posts abroad on 14 July after a district judge in Hawaii issued a ruling late on 13 July, which reduced the range of the 90-day travel ban on refugees and travelers from these six countries. Derrick Watson, the US District Judge, said that the government cannot disallow grandparents and other relatives of US nationals from Somalia, Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen from obtaining visas to the US under the ban. Meanwhile, the US administration has urged the Supreme Court and the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend the decision. The cable, or memo, modified the close family’s definition in the temporary travel ban passed in Trump’s 6 March executive order. As per the cable, the State Department’s definition now allows grandparents, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, grandchildren, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews and cousins to be granted visas. An official who wished not to be named was quoted by Reuters as saying that they were processing visa applications for the six countries’ citizens as directed by the Executive Order. Earlier in June, the Supreme Court had restored partially the 6 March ban that hit a roadblock at lower courts. If you are looking to travel to the US, get in touch with Y-Axis, a leading consultancy company for immigration services, to apply for a visa.