On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed parts of President Trump’s “travel ban” to move forward, and it will hear oral arguments on the entire case this fall. The travel ban went into effect Thursday evening, June 29, 2017.
In its opinion, the Court held that foreign nationals from the six named countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — with no “bona fide relationship” to the United States can be barred from entry pursuant to the recent executive orders. The Court gave several examples of what should qualify as a “bona fide relationship”: (1) people with a “close familial relationship” to someone in the United States; (2) students admitted to a university in the United States; (3) workers who have accepted an offer of employment United States company; and (4) lecturers invited to speak in the United States. In practice, this ruling is not likely to impact most foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States, but for those without a clear relationship to the United States, it creates yet another barrier to entry and places an even larger amount of discretion in the government’s hands. For full text of the Supreme Court’s ruling, click here.