The travel ban only applies to persons who are outside the United States and who do not have a valid visa already.  It also exempts permanent residents, persons with travel documents that are not visas (refugee travel permits, advance parole documents, etc.), dual nationals traveling on a passport from an unaffected country, persons traveling on diplomatic visas, or persons already admitted to the U.S. as refugees or granted asylum or other similar forms of relief.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued two orders staying the temporary injunctions placed on certain aspects of the travel ban, so it can take full effect pending  decisions by the Fourth and Ninth Circuits, and an eventual decision by the Supreme Court. The Court did not provide a specific reason for the orders other than that both cases would be heard on an “expedited basis” at the appellate courts.

Here are the countries covered by the travel ban:

  • Chad, Libya and Yemen: all immigrants and those entering as tourists or business travelers
  • Iran: all immigrants and nonimmigrants, except F, J and M visa holders (extra scrutiny)
  • North Korea and Syria: all immigrants and nonimmigrants
  • Somalia: immigrants (and nonimmigrants subject to extra scrutiny)
  • Venezuela: certain nonimmigrant government officials and their family members

Consular officers may, on a case-by-case basis, grant a waiver to affected individuals for certain reasons:

  • denying entry would cause the foreign national undue hardship;
  • entry would not pose a threat to the national security or public safety of the United States; and
  • entry would be in the national interest.

Please seek the advice of an immigration attorney before traveling abroad, if you are from one of the countries affected by the travel ban.  If you do not yet have a visa, you cannot obtain one at this time unless you qualify for a waiver. If you do have a valid visa, you may be able to enter the U.S.  Under the travel ban, the U.S. government will not revoke most visas and those with visas are not covered by the ban. Nevertheless, travel outside the United States at this time carries risk.

Here is a detailed fact sheet published originally on the White House website.