President Trump has issued a new order imposing severe restrictions on travelers from eight countries to the US, ranging from a total ban to more targeted limits. The new rules, which will affect the citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, will go into effect on October 18, 2017, and be indefinite.
The new set of restrictions replaces the contentious travel ban that President Trump issued in March, parts of which were blocked in court and which expired Sunday, September 24th. The Supreme Court may determine that it will not hear arguments, otherwise scheduled for October 10th , on whether the earlier travel ban violated the Constitution.
The US government will not revoke any existing visas and people currently allowed to travel to the US will not be affected. Also, the restrictions will not apply to US legal permanent residents or dual nationals who hold a passport from a nonrestricted country.
The restrictions will vary from country to country with foreign nationals from Syria and North Korea facing al almost complete travel ban. Iranians would be allowed to enter the US as students, which Chad, Libya, Somalia and Yemen would not be allowed to do. Also, Venezuelan government officials and their family would be virtually banned from the US. Iraqis would not be subject to the ban but would face additional scrutiny to determine whether they are a risk to national security or public safety.