U.S. denied tens of thousands more visas in 2018 due to travel ban: data

[webfact]

U.S. denied tens of thousands more visas in 2018 due to travel ban: data

By Yeganeh Torbati

 

FILE PHOTO: International travelers (reflected in a closed door) arrive on the day that U.S. President Donald Trump's limited travel ban, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, goes into effect, at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department refused more than 37,000 visa applications in 2018 due to the Trump administration's travel ban, up from less than 1,000 the previous year when the ban had not fully taken effect, according to agency data released on Tuesday.

 

The United States denies nearly 4 million visa applications a year for a variety of reasons, including for practicing polygamy, abducting children or simply not qualifying for the visa in question. The data released Tuesday was the first comprehensive look at the human impact of Republican President Donald Trump's ban, imposed shortly after he took office and initially blocked by federal courts.

 

The ban has especially affected people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, countries where the number of visas issued slid 80 percent in 2018 from 2016, the last year without a travel ban.

 

Trump's initial January 2017 executive order banning entry to the United States by citizens of several Muslim-majority countries launched a fierce fight in federal courts over whether the policy amounts to an unlawful "Muslim ban" or is a legal exercise of presidential power.

 

The administration revised the policy following court challenges, and the Supreme Court allowed it to largely go into effect in December 2017 while legal challenges continued. In June 2018, the high court upheld the new version of the ban.

 

As a result, most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen have not been able to enter the United States for well over a year. Venezuela and North Korea also were targeted in the current policy, but those restrictions were not challenged in court.

 

The figures released on Tuesday show the government denied 15,384 applications for immigrant visas - given to those who want to live permanently in the United States - due to the "2017 Executive Order on Immigration." A State Department spokeswoman confirmed that term referred to the travel ban policy.

 

In addition, 21,645 applications for non-immigrant visas - given to people coming for short-term visits for business, tourism or other reasons - were denied due to the ban.

 

Approximately 2,200 visa applications overcame denials based on the travel ban last year, but it was unclear how many of those applications were initially made last year or earlier.

 

The data did not include how many visa applications were made by citizens from countries affected by the travel ban.

 

Every month, the State Department releases the numbers of visas issued to citizens of all countries, including those under the travel ban, but it does not publish equivalent monthly information on the number of visa applications or denials by country.

 

Other, previously released data from the State Department shows that the number of U.S. visas issued to citizens of the countries under the travel ban has dropped drastically as a result of its implementation.

 

In the fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018, citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen - the five countries consistently on the travel ban list throughout its different iterations - received approximately 14,600 U.S. visas. That is down 80 percent from approximately 72,000 visas issued for citizens of those countries in the 2016 fiscal year, when no such ban was in place.

 

The denials have affected people like Rasha Jarhum, a Yemeni human rights defender who applied for a U.S. visitor visa in October to attend events on women's rights.

 

The U.S. consular officer "refused to even take my passport to process anything," Jarhum said. The officer handed her a piece of paper citing the executive order as the reason for her visa denial, a picture of which Jarhum posted on Twitter.

 

Ahmad Shariftabrizi, a U.S. citizen and oncologist in New York, is considering leaving the United States if his wife, an Iranian citizen, is unable to receive a visa to join him.

 

The couple, who wed in 2017, applied for her visa that year, and she was denied in December 2018, he said in a phone interview. The U.S. government is now reviewing whether she is eligible for a waiver to the ban, which has been rarely granted.

 

The uncertainty and distance is extracting a huge emotional toll on the couple.

 

"The separation from my wife is making both of us break down psychologically," he said. "It's extremely difficult."

 

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; editing by Mica Rosenberg and David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-27

[otherstuff1957]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The U.S. State Department refused more than 37,000 visa applications in 2018

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The United States denies nearly 4 million visa applications a year

 

Do the editors at Reuters even read their articles?  There is a bit of a difference between 37,000 and 4 million!

[Scott]

1 hour ago, otherstuff1957 said:

 

 

Do the editors at Reuters even read their articles?  There is a bit of a difference between 37,000 and 4 million!

The article is clear.   A total of 4 million visas denied for all countries.   37,000 were denied for those countries under the travel ban.  

[bronzedude]

Does anybody know how many tourist visa applications were denied to Thai citizens in 2018? The US charges a minimum of $160 just for a visa interview application. They charge $50 for (1700 baht which at current exchange rates is about $55) for notary services (certified passports etc.). It seems that the US embassy in Bangkok is making a tidy sum without having to do much work. I guess validating someones income by looking at their tax returns, social security statements, and pension payments was just getting in the way of leisurely making money for very little effort. 

2 hours ago, otherstuff1957 said:

 

Do the editors at Reuters even read their articles?  There is a bit of a difference between 37,000 and 4 million!

 

[Mansell]

Had an American friend's wife denied a visa for two weeks to go to Hawaii with him for his fifty year high school reunion. Married ten years, she has own house and three businesses, in her fifties with two kids. Totally ridiculous. Let's say she was going there to work, who goes through HAWAII to do this?

The quicker we get rid of this major moron running the country the better. Maybe the Vietnamese will throw his ass in prison in retribution for the war.......Hanoi Hilton baby.

[bronzedude]

I don't think that Trump is an idiot, but he is a clown. And his supporters all have their clown hats on.

[Scott]

Troll posts removed.  

 

6 hours ago, Mansell said:

Had an American friend's wife denied a visa for two weeks to go to Hawaii with him for his fifty year high school reunion. Married ten years, she has own house and three businesses, in her fifties with two kids. Totally ridiculous. Let's say she was going there to work, who goes through HAWAII to do this?

The quicker we get rid of this major moron running the country the better. Maybe the Vietnamese will throw his ass in prison in retribution for the war.......Hanoi Hilton baby.

I don't think Trump's rather chaotic policies around the visa issue is helping the situation for those trying to get any type of ordinary visa to the US, however, previous administrations have been tough on applicants.  

 

The first thing they have to do is to overcome the presumption that they will remain in the US.   If there is any doubt, then the application is rejected.   Part of that is establishing credibility with the officer and for a lot of Thais this is challenging.   Their desire to paint themselves in a good light sometimes leads to less-than-honest answers.   If there is any question in the consul officers mind, he will reject the application.

 

People who have traveled extensively are in a better position to get a visa.   Money in the bank is pretty much, but not always, a must.   Having an income in Thailand that they likely couldn't get in the US is another plus.   If you can earn more working as a cook or dishwasher in a Chinese Restaurant in the US than you are currently making in Thailand, it will be a red flag.  

 

And sometimes it seems that it's just a crap shoot.   I have a home in the US and a former colleague, a 50 year old single lady wanted to come for a visit.  Since she was a single female traveling to see/stay with a male, I expected she would have problems.   She has traveled a lot and takes students on English Camps in the UK once or twice a year.   She has a full-time job, a reasonable amount of money in the bank and her own home.   Her interview took 5 minutes.   They asked if I was her boyfriend, she replied 'no', just a colleague.   They reviewed the itinerary of where she was going and her paperwork and gave her a  10 year visa and said "Have a nice trip."

 

I have sat in on interviews and there are usually a few 'trick' questions -- nothing serious, but to determine if they are dealing with an honest applicant or someone whose credibility is in question.  

 

In past years, many, many ordinary Thais were simply too poor to be a good candidate for a tourist visa and the rejection rate was very high.   Thailand is more prosperous now and many ordinary Thais are able to get visas.  

 

Sorry your friend got rejected, but I'd tend to lay the blame more on her, her family and the consul officer than on Trump.