Immigrant Visa Fee Exemption due to Trump travel ban 

Donald Trump, the previous US president, conducted a series of travel bans on a few countries, which also got called the “Muslim ban” in 2017. It included severe travel restrictions to the US from people of the following countries:

• Iran
• Iraq
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Syria
• Yemen

Later on, Iraq was removed from the list. However, Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela were added, and Sudan was removed.

The travel ban was expanded on some other countries on On January 31, 2020

• Eritrea
• Kyrgyzstan
• Myanmar
• Nigeria
• Sudan
• Tanzania

The current US president, Joe Biden, issued a proclamation revoking the Trump travel bans On January 20, 2021. The Trump travel ban no longer exists, and people of the mentioned countries can travel to the US.

In case you have applied for an immigrant visa during the travel ban and have been rejected, your application fee could be exempted if you apply again. The rule is true if the rejection was due to the travel ban imposed by the Trump administration.

If your rejection was between December 8, 2017, and January 19, 2020, and the only reason for rejection was due to the travel ban, you do not need to pay another application fee applying for a US immigrant visa.

The eligibility principle for an application fee waiver

The eligibility principle for an application fee waiver is as follows:

• Visa application rejection between December 8, 2017, and January 19, 2020.
• The only reason for rejection was the travel ban.
• The applicant is applying for a US immigrant visa.

Applicants can not expect to receive their application fee back but just not pay another application fee if applying again. Bear in mind that the exemption is for one-time use only.