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President Trump’s ‘Immigration Ban’ Executive Order Actually is Quite Limited

President Trump recently raised eyebrows when he tweeted that he was planning to order an “immigration ban.” The resulting Executive Order he issued turned out to be much more limited. It only banned a certain subgroup of immigrants from coming to the United States for a period of 60 days.

The presidential Executive Order temporarily restricts the following individuals from obtaining an immigrant visa or entering as permanent residents:

  • Individuals outside of the U.S. who are being sponsored by an employer for Lawful Permanent Residence who do not already have an immigrant visa issued.
  • Individuals outside of the U.S. who are being sponsored by a family member for Lawful Permanent Residence who do not already have an immigrant visa issued. Please note that this does NOT apply to individuals who are spouses or minor children of U.S. citizens.

In practice, this “immigration ban” is quite limited and does not apply to most types of immigration. Further, there is no indication that any agency is stopping or slowing its processing of other types of applications, so there is not likely to be any impact on the vast majority of matters that are currently in process.

Additionally, many groups are NOT included in this action, including:

  • Anyone who already holds lawful permanent residence, or who has an immigrant visa stamped into their passport.
  • Any foreign healthcare workers coming to the U.S. to help combat the spread of COVID-19.
  • Anyone already in the U.S. who is going through the adjustment of status process with USCIS.
  • Anyone in the U.S. who is involved in a process with USCIS who is being sponsored by a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family member.
  • Anyone in the U.S. who is going through the PERM labor certification process or any other type of employment-based immigration process.
  • Anyone who is applying for a non-immigrant visa, including those in the U.S. who are changing immigration status, changing employers, or going through the H-1B lottery process
  • Foreign investors coming pursuant to the EB-5 program.
  • Any person whose entry would be in the nation’s interest, or would be assisting in law enforcement activities.

This limitation is in place for 60 days and will expire on June 22, 2020. However, that date may be extended at the discretion of President Trump.

Contact Caplan & Earnest with Questions

If you fall into one of the categories of people subject to the President Trump’s Executive Order and would like to discuss the impact on your case, please do not hesitate to contact Brad Hendrick or one of the other attorneys in our Immigration Law practice.

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