On February 3rd, 2017, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a temporary restraining order on a nationwide basis, prohibiting the Federal Government from enforcing Sections 3(c) [90-day travel ban on “immigrants and non-immigrants” from designated countries], 5(a) [120-day ban on U.S. refugee program], 5(b) [prioritization of certain refugee claims], 5(c) [indefinite suspension of Syrian refugee admissions], and 5(e) [case-by-case refugee admissions] of the January 27th, 2017 Executive Order. All U.S. land and air ports of entry are prohibited from enforcing these portions of the Executive Order until further order from the court.

Department of State (DOS) has confirmed that assuming there are no other issues in the case, provisionally revoked visas have been reversed and are once again valid for travel.

All Customs Border Protection (CBP) Field Offices have been instructed to immediately resume inspection of travelers under standard policies and procedures. All airlines and terminal operators have been notified to permit boarding of all passengers without regard to nationality.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has also confirmed with CBP that individuals who arrived last weekend and had their visas physically cancelled as a result of the EO will not need to reapply for a new visa and absent any other admissibility issues will receive an I-193 waiver (Application for Waiver of Passport and/or Visa) upon arrival to the U.S. For those traveling by air, airlines have been instructed to contact CBP to receive authorization to permit boarding.

The Trump Administration declared its intention to file an emergency stay of the order “at the earliest possible time.”

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office. We would be more than happy to discuss this with you and ease your concerns to the best of our ability.

February 6: Immigration Update

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