On February 9, 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the federal government’s motion for an emergency stay of the lower court’s decision tempoarily blocking President Trump’s travel ban on certain foreign nationals.  Therefore, until further action by a court, the order barring implementation of the travel and refugee ban remains in place, and all individuals may apply for visas and admission to the United States without regard to nationality.

Previously, on February 3, 2017, a federal court in Seattle granted Washington State and Minnesota’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in its challenge to President Trump’s January 27, 2017, Executive Order imposing a travel and refugee ban. In accordance with that court’s ruling, DHS suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the Order. Likewise, DOS has lifted the provisional revocation of valid visas of nationals of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.  Nevertheless, foreign nationals from these countries should continue to refrain from travel outside of the U.S. or do so with the knowledge that the restraining order is temporary and implementation of the order could resume at any time depending upon pending federal litigation.