The ban on travellers from mostly Muslim countries has proved one of the most divisive policies of Trump’s presidency
DONALD Trump’s travel ban on visitors from several mainly Muslim countries has proved one of the most controversial issues of his first year in office.
But the Supreme Court has handed a victory to the US president by allowing the administration to enforce the policy, which applies to six nations. Here’s what you need to know…
What is Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim travel ban’ and which countries are affected?
On December 4, Supreme Court justices ruled Trump’s ban extending to six mainly Muslim countries could take effect.
While it still faces some legal challenges, the policy involving travellers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen can now be fully enforced.
Several versions of the directive have been proposed by Trump since he took office, with various proposals frustrated by the court.
The president had initially signed an executive order halting all refugee admissions and temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.
But Iraq was removed from the original list, leaving the six countries listed in the version passed by the Supreme Court.
The latest amendment to the ban, from September, included travellers from nuke-wielding North Korea, failing Socialist state Venezuela and Chad.
What are the visa criteria for the affected Muslim countries?
Trump’s White House set out the new criteria for people coming in from the countries on the president’s list of Muslim majority countries.
The same restrictions would also apply, with some exceptions, to anyone trying to enter the US as a refugee.
Visas that had already been approved would not be revoked but the state department said they must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the US in order to be eligible.
Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, fiancees or other extended family members were originally not considered to be close relationships and so fell under the ban.
But the Supreme Court has since temporarily revised guidelines and said the controversial travel ban cannot be applied to grandparents and other close relatives of people living in the United States for now.
The guidelines were sent to all US embassies and consulates around the world on June 28.
Business or professional links must be shown to be “formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course rather than for the purpose of evading” the ban, the State Department said.
The communication added: “A worker who accepted an offer of employment from a company in the United States or a lecturer invited to address an audience in the United States would be exempt.”
Exemptions may also be granted if the applicant is an infant, adopted child, or in need of urgent medical care.
Additionally if they are travelling for business with a recognised international organisation or the US government they could qualify for an exemption.
Finally if they are a legal resident of Canada who applies for a visa in Canada, they may be exempt according to the document.
What is the laptop ban on flights and does it affect the UK?
The US has now ended a ban on passengers carrying laptops onboard US-bound flights from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa.
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was the last of ten airports to be exempted from the ban, the US department of homeland security (DHS) confirmed.
For UK-bound travellers, it still affects six countries coming from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
These items are examples of banned items but it has been made clear this is not an exhaustive list:
- Laptops
- Tablets/Kindles
- E-readers
- Cameras
- Portable DVD players
- Electronic game units larger than a smartphone
- Travel printers/scanners
Most smartphones are allowed in the cabin, along with any medical devices required by customers.
In the UK, 14 carriers including Easyjet, British Airways, Jet 2, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson flights will be affected.
The rules apply to the “last point of departure airports”.
So if you change onto a plane at one of the affected airports for the last leg of your journey, you could be affected by the new rules.
Speak to your airline to find out how the rules will affect your journey.
The Sun
