User:Sahil28699/Trump travel ban

Effect on banned countries
Over 135 million people fall under the ban. The Muslim countries are the ones who are most affected by this, the biggest being Iran with more than an 80 million population. 12 months after the implementation of the travel ban in 2018, only 537 immigrant visas were issued for individuals born in Iran. Whereas in 2017, 6643 visas were issued to Iranian born individuals, depicting a staggering 92% decrease in the 12 months following the travel ban. Iran wasn't the only Muslim country affected by the ban, other countries faced a similar effect. 12 months after the travel ban was in effect, Somalia experienced an 86% reduction in the number of immigrant visas and Yemen saw a decrease by 83%, Libya saw an 80% decrease and Syria 77%. However, the per month immigrant visas issued to non-Muslim countries on the travel ban barely changed. Actually, the number of visas issued to North Koreans increased by 40%.

Exceptions
The United States government has a system to provide 'waivers' as exceptions to people affected from the countries who need visas. The waivers are granted at the discretion of the counselor officers who review the applications. The waiver is granted to those facing a lot of undue hardship that requires them to be with their loved ones in the United States. For example, if a family member in the United States is dying, a person from the country with a travel ban on it would be granted a waiver to see their family member one last time. However, getting a waiver doesn't guarantee entry to the country. After being approved for the waiver the applicants must still apply for a visa. Only 2% of the people who applied for the waiver were granted one. From 33,176 applicants through April 30, 2018 579 applicants had been granted the waiver. The Executive Order of the travel ban has exceptions for student visas. However, even with a visa they are stopped and questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers who doubt that the individual's intention when entering the country is to study.