Any doubt about the effectiveness of President Trump’s January 27 travel ban has been largely erased; according to a Reuters analysis of information released by the State Department, last month the United States issued roughly 40% fewer temporary visas to citizens of the seven countries named in Trump’s ban than it did in an average month last year.
The number of non-immigrant visas issued to citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen totaled roughly 3,200 in March 2017, compared to roughly 5,700 issued on average per month during the 2016 fiscal year, while over 6,000 on average per month were issued in 2015 and 2014.
Reuters cautioned, “The department did not release data on the total number of all types of visa applications, so it is unclear whether the lower number of temporary visas for citizens of the seven countries is because of a higher rate of rejections or other factors, such as fewer applicants or slower processing times.”
William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, added, “Either there are many fewer people applying because they believe they will be denied, or a much higher rate of denials is already happening even though the executive orders have been blocked.”
Trump’s ban was supposed to be effective for 90 days, but was blocked by federal courts, prompting the Trump administration to replace it with a less restrictive travel ban effective March 6; Iraq was deleted from the list.
Non-immigrant visas issued to Iranians dropped from 2,450 per month on average in 2016 to 1,572 in March. Immigrants from Iraq received 684 non-immigrant visas in March; they received roughly twice that number per month on average in 2016.
Kiyanoush Razaghi, a Maryland-based immigration attorney, admitted, “That’s a fundamental change that I am seeing, at least in the community and among the clients that I have. They have a general feeling that now is not a good time to apply for a visa.”