It is looking like an executive order banning entry of visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Libya is imminent according to various news sources over the last 24 hours - surprised that there isn't yet a thread here to discuss. Seems like this will have major consequences for the Iranian-American and other communities if it indeed goes into full effect; if I'm reading the
leaked draft correctly, not only will returning Iranian students and others with legitimate visas be stranded abroad for 30 days effective tomorrow or Friday while the existing vetting procedures are tightened even further, the ban could become indefinite should the government of Iran refuse or be unable to fully cooperate with State and DHS within 60 days in providing additional information that the tightened vetting procedures will require.
A member of my immediate family is an Iranian diversity visa winner with an interview scheduled for late March, so I'm scrambling to figure out what this exactly means for us - what I'm seeing so far is, to say the least, rather concerning for our case. There's a lot of details that still seem unclear at the moment, including whether my CR-1 spouse can accompany me on an upcoming trip outside the country without a risk of being locked out. The last 24 hours have left me emotionally drained trying to figure out the ramifications of what is going on now... anyone else out there directly affected by this?