US rescinds ban, 11 nations to face extra scrutiny

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday lifted a 120-day temporary ban on refugees from entering the country, but said that applicants from 11 “high-risk” countries will face extra scrutiny.

The 11 countries were not identified, but reports indicated they would mostly be Muslim-majority nations — Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — as well as North Korea and South Sudan.

In an executive order issued on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the improvements in the vetting process of refugee admission programme since the ban was imposed are “generally adequate to ensure the security and welfare of the US” and the departments of state and the homeland security “may resume that programme, and that they will apply special measures to certain categories of refugees”.

The new “enhanced vetting” measures include increased data collection to more thoroughly investigate applicants with more biographical information, improved information sharing between agencies “to identify threat actors”, and “new training procedures to strengthen screener ability to detect fraud and deception”.

The department of homeland security said the “admissions for applicants from those 11 highrisk countries will move forward on a case-by-case basis during an additional 90-day review period”.

They may return to standard vetting processes after “complete individual country reviews”.

VISA RENEWAL RULES TOUGHENED

The administration has changed the rules for the renewal or extension of non-immigrant visa categories such as H-1B and L-1, which are popular with Indian companies based in the US.

“The previous policy instructed officers to give deference to the findings of a previously approved petition, as long as the key elements were unchanged and there was no evidence of a material error or fraud related to the prior determination,” the US customs and immigration services said on Monday.

“The updated policy guidance rescinds the previous policy.”

Under the new guidance, the burden of proving the eligibility of the request for extension will rest with the applicant, “regardless of whether USCIS previously approved a petition”.