February 3, 2017 - Executive Order Update from the International Center

Dear International Student, Scholar, Faculty or Staff Member,

This message serves as a follow-up to our previous communications regarding the Executive Orders related to immigration issues.  Although there are still many unanswered questions, we have some clarifications, updates, and recommendations to share with you, based on information that we have been able to verify with official sources.

We appreciate that this has been an extremely stressful week for many of you.  We hope to help ease that stress by providing you with timely and accurate updates when we have confirmation of new developments.

Executive Order Updates

The recent Executive Order does not apply to U.S. citizens or to U.S. permanent residents.  

Dual citizens: The U.S. Department of State and  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  have confirmed that the Executive Order does not restrict the travel of dual citizens of an affected country and a non-U.S. country, as long as they are traveling on a passport from an unrestricted country (a country that is not on the list).  This assumes that the U.S. visa stamp is in the unrestricted country’s passport and that other required documents are valid. 

Citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen

You should not depart the U.S. because you will not be able to return before April 26, 2017 (the 90-day period mentioned in the Executive Order) and possibly longer, even if you have a valid visa in your passport.  We encourage you to speak with an adviser in the IC before making any travel plans.

Again, this does not include dual citizens of one of these countries and another country that is not on the list.  It also does not include U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

The Executive Order currently only applies to these seven countries: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It is always possible that other countries could be added, but at this point that has not happened.

Reminders & Recommendations for International Students, Scholars, Faculty and Staff Members

  • Remember that a valid visa is only required to enter the United States. Once you are in the United States, it is not a problem if your visa expires, as long as your other documents are unexpired. For example, your F-1 visa stamp may have expired, but you are in legal status as long as your I-20 form is valid and unexpired.
  • You may have read that due to the Executive Order, U.S. visas issued to citizens of the countries included in the order have been “provisionally revoked". U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has stated that this does not apply if you were in the United States when the order was signed. Of course, it is still the case that if you are affected by the Executive Order, you should not leave the United States because you will not be able to return before April 26, 2017 (the 90-day period mentioned in the Executive Order) and possibly longer.
  • If you are traveling internationally, please consult the travel advisory for students and scholars or for faculty and staff on the IC website to ensure you are prepared for travel and for re-entry to the U.S.
  • Individuals, regardless of citizenship, who travel to one of the countries on the list, may encounter additional scrutiny when they reenter the U.S. or apply for a U.S. visa. Please consider this possibility if you are planning to travel to one of these countries and be sure to register on the U-M Travel Registry.
  • Because of the Executive Order, the visa application process for all visa applicants will probably take longer than before as interviews will be required for all applicants. Allow for this as you plan your travel.
  • There have been no changes to current regulations regarding CPT or OPT. As a result, we are assisting students with applying for both.

General Information and Reminders

  • The Office of the General Counsel has compiled a list of legal and community resources that you may find helpful.
  • The Executive Order does not apply to travel within the U.S. or U.S. Territories. 
  • At any point in time, there may be several proposals related to immigration circulating in the media and on the internet. Additionally, draft proposals of new Executive Orders have been leaked. These are not final and may change. Many proposals would also require formal regulatory changes, which would take time to implement. Furthermore, there have been several legal challenges to the Executive Orders and any possible impact of them is not yet known.

We will continue to monitor any developments and will send updates to the campus on important and relevant changes, as needed.

The International Center remains the university’s official source of immigration information.  Call, email, or stop by to chat with us.  We want to hear from you.  Let us know how the university can support your success here.

 

The International Center

University of Michigan
1500 Student Activities Building
515 E. Jefferson Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1316
734-764-9310

www.internationalcenter.umich.edu