America re-approves requests for entry visas to countries including Yemen

SANAA, March 9 (YPA) – The US State Department said on Monday that most of those who applied for US visas and were rejected due to Trump’s decision to ban entry to citizens of 13 countries, most of which are Muslim-majority or African, can seek to reconsider their applications or file new ones.

President Joe Biden canceled his predecessor Donald Trump’s decision to ban Muslims on January 20, his first day in office, describing it as a “stain on our national conscience.”

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that those who applied for visas and were rejected before January 20, 2020, must apply and pay their fees. He added that those who were rejected on or after January 20, 2020 can file a petition for re-examination of their applications without the need to re-apply or pay additional fees.

According to State Department data, about 40,000 people have been prevented from entering the United States under the ban since December 2017, after the US Supreme Court approved an amended version of the original travel ban, according to Reuters.

The Trump administration added some countries and removed others from the ban list. In the last period of his presidency, the list included Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela and Yemen.