U.S. president Donald Trump looks set to revive the travel
ban, introduced in his first term of office, that restricted entry to the
United States for citizens of six largely Muslim countries.
Trump could sign an executive order as early as this week putting
restrictions in place on countries he believes have insufficient immigration
screening and security measures in place.
Media reports suggest it could not only ban travel from most
countries affected last time — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — but
could add Afghanistan and Pakistan to the so-called red list.
The Exhibition & Conference Alliance (ECA), a trade body that
lobbies on behalf of the business events industry, has said it is ‘opposed to
any inbound travel restrictions’.
The body also said it wanted a reduction in visa waiting
times and a better processing system when it laid out its public policy agenda before
Trump took office earlier this year.
A category of “orange”-level countries is also proposed in
the draft order, according to reports. It is not yet known what countries fall
into that category, but those that do are expected to be subject to additional
screening processes in order to obtain travel visas to the U.S. The types of
visas from such countries are also expected to be limited, for example, to
individuals traveling on business but largely denied to tourists or those
seeking to immigrate.
A third category of “yellow”-level countries would be
required to enhance their current security and screening processes within 60
days or risk being elevated to one of the other categories. Such gaps could
include failure to provide the United States with certain traveller information
or insufficient security practices for issuing passports.
It is unclear, for now, whether travel and immigration visas
for individuals from those countries currently within the United States will
remain active or will be cancelled.
President Trump in January set the stage for increased
travel and immigration security measures. He tasked the State Department,
Homeland Security, National Intelligence and the Attorney General via an
executive order to devise a list of countries where “vetting and screening
information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the
admission of nationals from those countries.”
The list was to be submitted within 60 days, which means it
is due within the next 10 days. The January order instructed the departments
reviewing country-by-country security measures to use as a baseline “the
screening and vetting standards and procedures, consistent with the uniform
baseline that existed on January 19, 2021,” which was Trump’s final day in
office before Joe Biden, who succeeded Trump’s first administration, repealed
the travel ban on his first day in office.
The Global Business Travel Association estimated that
Trump’s 2017 travel bans and electronics policies reduced business and meetings
travel-related spending to the U.S. by $1.3bn that year.
