Nigeria included in expanded US immigration ban but students can still obtain visas

The United States has extended the list of countries whose citizens will, with some exceptions, be barred from entering the US on immigrant visas beginning on 22 February 2020. According to an executive order of US President Donald Trump, citizens of Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania will now not be able to obtain US immigration visas. In addition, citizens from the seven countries on the original ban list will continue to face restrictions or extremely stringent vetting regarding travel and immigration to the US. Those countries are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea, and Venezuela.

Importantly, students from countries on the latest travel ban are not explicitly prevented from obtaining F-1 student visas to come to study in the US. As President Trump notes in the text of the executive order:

“I have decided not to impose any non-immigrant visa restrictions for the newly identified countries, which substantially reduces the number of people affected by the proposed restrictions.”

That said, the overall effect of the travel ban will likely be to intensify scrutiny of all citizens from countries on the list, which will potentially make it more difficult for students from the targeted countries from obtaining student visas. Already, there are stories and rumours circulating in Nigeria about more stringent practices being applied to Nigerian applicants for US study visas.

The rationale behind the expansion

The new immigration ban list emerges as a result of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) worldwide review of threats to US security – including threats caused by non-cooperative governments or governments unable to provide sufficient data to DHS – conducted between March 2019 and September 2019.

Read the full article here…