Most US visa applicants who were denied because of former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries can seek new decisions or submit new applications, the State Department announced on Monday, according to Reuters.
President Joe Biden overturned Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” on January 20, when he signed a slew of executive orders reversing many of Trump’s policies on his first day in office.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday that applicants who were refused visas prior to January 20, 2020, must submit new applications and pay a new application fee.
Those who were denied on or after January 20, 2020, may seek reconsideration without re-submitting their applications and do not have to pay additional fees, Price said.
Since December 2017, after a revised version of the original travel ban was upheld by the US Supreme Court, some 40,000 people have been barred from entering the United States under the ban, according to State Department data.
The list of countries in the ban changed several times during the Trump administration, noted Reuters. At the end of Trump’s presidency it comprised Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela and Yemen.