Diane E. Metzger
Laura E. Hemmer
Luke T. Phillips
Melanie Gurley Keeneyby Luke Phillips
With the COVID-19 Omicron variant emergent, President Biden issued a Presidential Proclamation suspending the entry of individuals who were physically present within South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, or Zimbabwe during the 14-day period preceding their attempted entry into the U.S. The travel suspension became effective on November 29, 2021.
The Presidential Proclamation provides for certain exceptions. For example, the travel suspension does not apply to U.S. citizens (“USCs”), lawful permanent U.S. residents (“LPRs”), noncitizen U.S. nationals, noncitizen spouses or children of USCs or LPRs, noncitizen parents of USCs or LPRs (if child is unmarried and under the age of 21), noncitizen siblings of USCs or LPRs (if both are unmarried and under the age of 21), and noncitizens whose entry would be in the national interest. We anticipate that the State Department and Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) will utilize the same or similar procedures for national interest exception (“NIE”) requests. If you wish to review the additional exceptions and other details of the Presidential Proclamation, please click here.
This travel suspension only supplements and does not supersede the recently-issued air travel policies regarding vaccination and testing requirements.
We will continue to provide updates as any further changes in travel policies are implemented.
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Immigration ““ The Firm represents businesses, institutions of higher learning, and individuals with respect to immigration-related matters, including obtaining visitor visas, temporary and permanent work visas, consular processing of visas, obtaining citizenship, advising employers on employment sanctions issues, and defending employers faced with INS I-9 audits and investigations.
Luke T. Phillips practices primarily in the area of immigration law, representing corporations and institutions of higher education with their immigration needs, including obtaining temporary and permanent visas, handling employer sanctions issues, I-9 and E-Verify employment eligibility verification compliance, consular processing, and naturalization.