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Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Old Jun 27th 2021, 11:59 am
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Question Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

My employer is currently in the process of trying to secure and L1-B for me. I am based in the UK.

I asked them for a timeline, and after speaking to their legal team they added this line to the email they sent me because of the fact that Im based in the UK.

There's an added complexity to your situation which may resolve itself with the potential UK/US travel ban lift in the near future. With the travel ban in place, even if we were approved for the L1-B or tried to take the H1B route through another country, we still need to show a National Interest Exception in order to complete the process. If or when the ban is lifted, the NIE wouldn't be necessary and would avoid some extra steps and paperwork. We'll monitor this closely. For everyone trying to get here to the States, there is a backlog of cases and applications so we could see some delays as a result. All these minor challenges are certainly not showstoppers once the L1-B is approved. We continue on as planned.

My understanding of the UK//US travel ban, was that it could be easily avoided by traveling to a country that is not part of the ban and staying there for 14 days.
The part about seeking a "National Interest Exception" makes it sound like the ban actually affects the issuing of visas. Can anyone clarify if that is the case?

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Old Jun 27th 2021, 6:14 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by tariqbutt
My employer is currently in the process of trying to secure and L1-B for me. I am based in the UK.

I asked them for a timeline, and after speaking to their legal team they added this line to the email they sent me because of the fact that Im based in the UK.

There's an added complexity to your situation which may resolve itself with the potential UK/US travel ban lift in the near future. With the travel ban in place, even if we were approved for the L1-B or tried to take the H1B route through another country, we still need to show a National Interest Exception in order to complete the process. If or when the ban is lifted, the NIE wouldn't be necessary and would avoid some extra steps and paperwork. We'll monitor this closely. For everyone trying to get here to the States, there is a backlog of cases and applications so we could see some delays as a result. All these minor challenges are certainly not showstoppers once the L1-B is approved. We continue on as planned.

My understanding of the UK//US travel ban, was that it could be easily avoided by traveling to a country that is not part of the ban and staying there for 14 days.
The part about seeking a "National Interest Exception" makes it sound like the ban actually affects the issuing of visas. Can anyone clarify if that is the case?
Correct, you need NIEs for current visa issuance and then for onward travel. My understanding is that, currently, UK-issued NIEs are valid for 60 days from issuance.
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Old Jun 27th 2021, 8:17 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

The main issue is the massive backlog of non-immigrant visas at consulates around the world. Even if approved it could take 12 months to find an appointment before you could do 14 days in 3rd country route.
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Old Jun 27th 2021, 8:44 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Hold on, are we really talking about 12 months of delays? Or would it be less than that if I have travel ban is lifted and we do the process here in the UK?
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Old Jun 27th 2021, 8:56 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by tariqbutt
Hold on, are we really talking about 12 months of delays? Or would it be less than that if I have travel ban is lifted and we do the process here in the UK?
Have your NIE approved and then there’s no wait at all. If not, 12 months delay sounds about right.
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Old Jun 27th 2021, 9:34 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

But once the ban is lifted there would be no need for an NIE, correct?

What part of the process is the "12 months delay" referring to? Is this something related to the 14 day travel ban? If so, would getting a visa in a 3rd country with no travel ban not solve this?
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Old Jun 27th 2021, 10:32 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by tariqbutt
But once the ban is lifted there would be no need for an NIE, correct?

What part of the process is the "12 months delay" referring to? Is this something related to the 14 day travel ban? If so, would getting a visa in a 3rd country with no travel ban not solve this?
There's a massive backlog of visa processing everywhere, so no one knows how long that will take. But it will be a significant length of time for sure.
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 11:38 am
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by tariqbutt
But once the ban is lifted there would be no need for an NIE, correct?

What part of the process is the "12 months delay" referring to? Is this something related to the 14 day travel ban? If so, would getting a visa in a 3rd country with no travel ban not solve this?
Your behind many many many applications that were filed during COVID that have not been processed due to not being granted NIEs.

If you don't get an NIE yourself, 12 months seems reasonable. It could also be longer than that. No one really knows.
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 12:01 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Ah ok I think I understand now. So basically if the travel ban was lifted, then I would be behind everyone who has already applied but does not have an NIE.
It sounds like the only way to get this processed quickly would be to get an NIE while the travel ban is in place?
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 12:06 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Pretty much
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 2:47 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

The focus seems to be on immigrant visas and for some reason student visa's, Mission Priority, so everything else is super backed up.
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 3:15 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by Boiler
student visa's
My guess is that the US University lobby has successfully argued that they would lose huge $$$ without any new international students arriving. The same could be said of work visas too, but there's no single group that argues for that in the same way (except maybe Big Tech?)
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 3:38 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by tariqbutt
Ah ok I think I understand now. So basically if the travel ban was lifted, then I would be behind everyone who has already applied but does not have an NIE.
It sounds like the only way to get this processed quickly would be to get an NIE while the travel ban is in place?
Yep. There's a year's worth of people who haven't been able to apply who have suddenly done so since the ban ended in March, so a huge backlog to get though. Note that NIE criteria has also narrowed considerably recently, so do check you're still eligible if you looked in to it before.

Originally Posted by postbox134
My guess is that the US University lobby has successfully argued that they would lose huge $$$ without any new international students arriving. The same could be said of work visas too, but there's no single group that argues for that in the same way (except maybe Big Tech?)
There was, the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation filed a lawsuit, along with other companies including Facebook etc, but they didn't get anywhere with overturning the ban.
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 4:09 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

  • Does the company having Blanket L1 approval make any different to this process or is that the same?
  • Also assuming I won the H1-B lottery would that be quicker? (They did apply for me)
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Old Jun 28th 2021, 4:14 pm
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Default Re: Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Originally Posted by tariqbutt
  • Does the company having Blanket L1 approval make any different to this process or is that the same?
  • Also assuming I won the H1-B lottery would that be quicker? (They did apply for me)
Unfortunately, no and no. The blanket makes no difference in this case and H1-B is the same, you'll still need an appointment at a consulate.
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