From the Newsroom
immigration updates; June 10, 2025
travel ban 2025
This Administration’s version of the “travel ban” took effect yesterday (Monday). Essentially, it is a ban on visa issuance (not travel, visa applications, or visa interviews) on foreign nationals from particular countries, and there are two types.
1. The full one: no types of visas will be issued. This applies if your government is either dysfunctional or hostile and uncooperative (not including the present version of the United States). This is defined to include countries who are not effectively screening and vetting of their passport applicants, or who otherwise refuse to share information about their citizens, or who otherwise their citizens back once we try to deport them. Members of this club include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
2. The partial one: no student, visitor, or exchange visitor visas will be issued, wither others somewhat restricted. This applies if too many other citizens of your country have overstayed, including citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. This does not entail that these countries all top the list of “overstays” (else there would be several European countries on this list) but it has been determined that the number of overstays is a significant factor in their decision.
3. And after the recent terrorist attack by an Egyptian national, that country might find itself on the list pending further investigation.
The caveats:
Having learned their lessons from the last time around, there are a number of limitations to the ban, making it more likely to survive legal challenges.
If you are from one of these countries, you may nevertheless not be covered by the ban, which only applies if you were: 1) outside the U.S. on June 9th; and 2) without a valid visa. If you had a visa on Monday, that will not be revoked, but future embassy appointments may be canceled. If you were outside the U.S. the embassies can also make case-by-case exceptions if your entry would advance a critical U.S. national interest: though likely that would involve something like participating in the prosecution of another immigrant.
Moreover, this ban does not apply to are: green card holders and their immediate relatives; athletes and coaches in major sporting event (basically the World Cup and Olympics); adoptees; refugees, asylees, and those with protection under the the Convention against Torture; Afghanis with Special Immigrant Visas; or those with diplomatic visas.
And note to dual-nationals: if one of your nationalities is not listed, then you are not prevented from entering via that passport.
Lastly, this policy will be reviewed after 90 days and every 180 days thereafter. Expect this review to be superficial, and expect a LOT of chaos surrounding the World Cup and Olympics.
the sort-of student visa ban
On the same day (June 4th), the Administration rolled out the highly-principled and judicious proclamation “Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University." May 28th’s newsletter touched on the Administration’s initial attempt to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, and the resulting temporary restraining order (preventing the policy from being enforced) issued by the U.S. District Judge overseeing the case.
As anticipated, the proclamation suspends the entry of those with student visas seeking to begin attending Harvard, and allows the Secretary of State (currently, Marco Rubio) to revoke the visa of current Harvard students, in his discretion. As with the travel ban above, there is a “national interest” exception, and the policy will be reviewed in 90 days (so long enough to prevent students for the fall semester from arriving on time). And, as titled, this only applies to Harvard students.
Harvard filed an amended complaint the next day, and about four hours after that the TRO was extended through the next hearing on June 16th.
Meanwhile the global temporary global pause in scheduling interviews for student and exchange visitors (discussed last week) continues to proceed, pending further implementation of the Department of State’s policy for social media vetting. Those in the U.S. can still change status, and if you’re Canadian, you’re still exempt from a visa and can enter with an I-20, DS-2019, proof of SEVIS payment, funding and ties back home, and valid passport.
Everyone else can still submit DS-160 requests for an interview; consular posts will just not schedule any new appointments until the vetting procedure is in place.
Regarding Rubio’s May 28th announcement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will revoke visas for Chinese students "with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields” (the equally measured and well-reasoned “New Visa Policies Put America First, Not China”), little remains known. For now, we assume this applies only to mainland China, but its application to Hong Kong has not been ruled out.
TPS terminations
Each week brings us to the end of more TPS programs. Cameroon’s will end on August 4th, 2025, and Nepal’s will end on Aug 5, 2025. Work permits are automatically extended until these dates. If you are an employer, you must note both the expiration of the current work permits (June 25, 2025 for Nepal and June 7, 2025 for Cameroon) and their automatic extensions (to August 4th or 5th). More information for employers can be found here.
I-601A and registration
Section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as described in 8 U.S.C. § 1302, requires noncitizens to register their presence in the U.S. with the federal government. Failure to comply may result in criminal and civil penalties, including misdemeanor prosecution, fines, and incarceration.
On January 20, 2025, the President issued an executive order (EO 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion”) which, among other things, called for a new procedure requiring undocumented immigrants to register with USCIS (identified as the “Alien Registration Requirement”). We posted background documents (here and here) last month. Those with approved green card applications, DACA, TPS, or U-visa classifications will be considered registered. (Last month we provided more detail here and here.)
Once registered AND fingerprinted, DHS will issue evidence of registration, which noncitizens over the age of 18 must carry and keep in their personal possession at all times.
On February 25th, USCIS released Form G-325R for those not already considered registered, including applicants who were fingerprinted through processes not explicitly listed under the new rule.
Nevertheless, it appears some individuals with approved Forms I-601A (Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver) have been receiving notices indicating they’ve met the registration requirement. Our guess is that certain officers at the agency are conflating the fingerprinting requirement with registration. Applicants with approved I-601As should not assume they are registered unless they receive such notice.
quotas up, crime-fighting down
As mentioned last week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has been firing top ICE officials for allegedly failing to meet a quota of 3,000 migrant arrests per day, and that the FBI and National Guard have been deployed to join in this cause. It seems now that Miller is now threatening to fire the ICE local Field Office Directors with the lowest numbers and that 26,000 troops and federal personnel (FBI, ATF, DEA, IRS, and probably more) are being pulled away from from their regular jobs of keeping American safe in order to be dedicated to ICE’s “Operation At Large.” They’re getting somewhat closer to that goal of 3,000 by ramping up arrests at immigration and housing courts, workplaces, and homes, while also considering the conversion of military facilities into detention centers. One more time, for the record: the vast majority of these arrests have nothing to do with criminality.
And for the lawyers: my AI & Ethics CLE is been getting some positive reviews. If you have a chance to view it, LMK what you think and what related topics would be useful.
That’s it for the week. Thanks for reading, and let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to cover.
Matthew Blaisdell, Esq.
Sunset Immigration PLLC
219 36th Street, Ste 511
Brooklyn, NY 11232
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