So the travel ban is on. If you’re from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen, you can’t get into the US – unless you can. What are the exceptions?
According to Executive Order 13780 Trump signed last March (and got allowed temporarily by the Supreme Court on June 29, 2017), no one from the above six countries is being allowed into the country for 90 days while the Supreme Court examines the legality of the order, and no refugees are allowed in for 120 days. But the Executive Order leaves in a fuzzy “bona fide relationship” exception that left me confused. What counts as a “bona fide relationship?”
Turns out the State Department clarified in a briefing. The following relationships count as “bona fide”: parents, spouses, children, adult son or daughters, sons and daughter-in-laws, and siblings. Everyone else is out of luck. And since the TSA can decide on the spot to send you back home without any refund on your plane ticket, it’s best not even to try if you don’t fit that category.
If you’re from one of those six countries: Time to bide your time and see what the Supreme Court has to say about all this.