The New York Times reports the State Department is giving immigration and consular officials new grounds to deny entry to visitors to the United States or to kick them out if they are already here.
In a cable to American embassies around the world, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson reportedly wrote that visitors who require a visa before entering the United States must then follow through on their stated plans for at least three months. If in that period they do something they failed to mention in an interview with a consular official — such as marry an American citizen, go to school or get a job — it will be presumed that they have deliberately lied.
That would make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to renew a visa, get a new one or change their status. And if they were still in the United States, it would make those visitors eligible for deportation.
Changes of plans that occur after three months may still be problematic but are not presumed to be the result of “willful misrepresentation,” the cable said, according to The New York Times.
Under previous rules, a change in plans was deemed to be misrepresentation only for the first month after arrival in the United States.
In 2016, the United States issued more than 10 million visas, helping to support a large tourism industry. But the new rule does not generally apply to citizens of 38 countries — including most of Europe and longstanding allies like Australia, New Zealand and Japan — who do not need a visa or an explicit travel, business or educational plan before coming to the United States.
Most people from the Middle East, Africa and much of Asia do need a visa, however, and consular decisions about who gets the precious documents are among the greatest sources of tensions between the United States and these nations. In some foreign countries, hundreds line up daily outside American embassies and consulates to apply.
Travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries who have been banned from entry to the United States under an order that the Supreme Court partially allowed to go into effect in June would not be affected since they cannot receive a visa under almost any circumstances. The New York Times said.
The new rules are reportedly part of a broad push by the Trump administration to crack down not only on illegal immigration but also to tighten restrictions on legal immigration.
