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Implications for Revised Travel Ban

 June 29, 2017

TO:  Vice Presidents, Vice Provosts, Deans, Directors, Department Heads, and Managers
FROM:  Kyle Cavanaugh, Vice President, Administration
RE:  Implications for Revised Travel Ban

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed aspects of the revised Presidential Executive Order limiting travel to the United States by foreign nationals from six middle eastern countries to go into effect. The U.S. State Department has now issued guidelines related to the travel ban, which will go into effect at 8 p.m. today.

The travel restrictions are not expected to have a significant impact on Duke due to the provision that allows for foreign nationals from the Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan to enter the U.S. if they have “a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” Duke officials believe this provision covers students, faculty, and staff who have agreements to study, work, or conduct research at Duke.

The travel ban does not affect individuals from the six countries who already have a visa, and according to the State Department guidelines, the bona-fide relationship covers individuals who have close family members in the United States (e.g. children, parents, in-laws, or spouse).

Under the travel ban, the U.S. will not issue new visas in the next 90 days to anyone from the six countries who cannot establish a “bona fide relationship” and will not issue new visas to Syrian refugees for the next 120 days.

We will continue to monitor this situation closely and post updates to Duke Today and the Visa Services website as more information becomes available.