US visa applicants denied under Trump ‘Muslim ban’ can reapply

People who were denied entry to the United States because of former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries can seek new decisions or submit new applications, the US Department of State has said.

President Joe Biden overturned Trump’s so-called Muslim ban on January 20, his first day in office, calling it “a stain on our national conscience”.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the US Department of State, said on Monday that applicants who were refused visas prior to January 20, 2020, must submit new applications and pay a new application fee.

Those who were denied on or after January 20, 2020, may seek reconsideration without resubmitting their applications and do not have to pay additional fees, Price said.

Applicants selected in the diversity visa lottery prior to the current fiscal year are barred by US law from being issued visas if they have not gotten them already, he said.

The diversity lottery aims to accept immigrants from countries that are not normally awarded many visas.

Since December 2017, after a revised version of the original travel ban was upheld by the US Supreme Court, some 40,000 people have been barred from entering the US under the ban, according to State Department data.

During the Trump administration’s term some countries were added and others dropped from the list.

At the end of Trump’s presidency, it comprised Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela and Yemen.