USA
Visa applicants from six Muslim-majority countries must have a close family relationship to a U.S. individual or formal ties to a U.S. entity to be admitted to the United States under guidance distributed by the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.
The guidance defined a close familial relationship as being a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling, including step siblings and other step family relations, according to a copy of a cable distributed to all U.S. diplomatic posts and seen by Reuters.
The cable, first reported by the Associated Press, said close family “does not include grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-laws and sisters-in-law, fiancés, and any other ‘extended’ family members.”
It also specified that any relationship with a U.S. entity “must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading the E.O.,” a reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order temporarily barring most U.S. travel by citizens of six nations.
The cable provides advice to U.S. consular officers on how to interpret Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that allowed parts of the executive order, which had been blocked by the courts, to be implemented while the highest U.S. court considers the matter.
Reuters
01:13
Arab League deplores US veto denying Palestine full UN membership
01:38
Sexual violence in conflict increased by 50% in 2023, says UN
Go to video
Expulsions in Rwanda: genesis of a controversial bill
01:01
Israel-Hamas war: Humanitarian aid parachuted into northern Gaza
01:01
Protests against U.S. military presence in Niger continue
01:35
Sudan war fuelled by weapons from foreign actors in violation of sanctions - UN