Guidance on Recent Travel Ban and Student Visa News
On June 4th, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order “travel ban” that will now block new nationals of 12 specific countries from coming and traveling to the United States. This ban became effective 12:01 AM on Monday, June 9th, 2025. This is similar to actions taken by President Trump early in his first term.
List of Nations to Which the New Version of the Travel Ban Applies:
Afghanistan
Myanmar
Chad
The Republic of Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Haiti
Iran
Libya
Somalia
Sudan
Yemen
Note that anyone already present in the US from any such country now should not leave the United States at all. Simply stay put and stay here (as we’ve been universally advising folks for some time now).
In addition to the above-named 12 countries, there are 7 others that will face new heightened (and currently largely unknown) travel restrictions of their own, as announced by the White House on Wednesday, June the 4th. While we await further guidance and information on these restrictions, nationals of these 7 other countries also should not leave the United States, if already here.
Countries Facing Heightened Travel Restrictions:
Burundi
Cuba
Laos
Sierra Leone
Togo
Turkmenistan
Venezuela
Again, our stance as a firm is that anyone already present in the US from the above countries should stay in the United States. This has been our stance for some time now.
Higher Education & Student Visa News
Also making news this week is the Trump administration’s continued actions regarding higher education. Please be advised that similar to Harvard University, Columbia University in the City of New York is now facing comparable threatened backlash from the Trump administration over its accreditation. While litigation on the matter surely would follow, this (in an extreme result) could affect Columbia’s ability to support, retain and enroll foreign students.
Current F-1s and J-1s connected to Columbia could (in an extreme result) consequently need new and immediate immigration solutions brought forth & forward. We’ve seen and advised on this recently with the ongoing Harvard corollary, specifically by looking both at O-1A extraordinary alien eligibility, and also CAP-exempt “concurrent” H-1B options. Other angles for such students to consider can include:
An E-2 (to run one’s own business)
A spousal derivative option (e.g., H-4, J-2 or L-2)
Self-petitioning and expediting an employment-based Green Card
Certain viable family-based options, most notably a pending & bubbling marriage to a US Citizen
We continue to strongly recommend that any person in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident and eligible to seek naturalization should do so at once. US Citizenship simply confers more rights and protections which are needed today, chief among which is the right to vote. Residency requirement required by the naturalization process normally is 5 years. This requirement drops to 3 when living in marital union with a US Citizen.
Further Information & Guidance
If you’re an individual affected by these recent developments, or an employer with employees who are affected, we encourage you to reach out for guidance. Our firm is here to help guide you through these challenges.
