Following the letter, the U.S. Department of State responded
by issuing a startling letter on Feb. 22, 2018 addressed to
Sen. Van Hollen. The State Department revealed that: “Of the
8,406 applications for nonimmigrant and immigrant visas,
only two waivers were granted as of Feb. 15, 2018.” In order to
gain an understanding of how many individuals are adversely
affected, one must review the Department of State’s Report of
the Visa Office from 2017 (Department of State, Report of the
Visa Office 2017, tbls XIV, XVIII).
According to said State Department report, in 2016 alone,
73,500 visas were issued to the same nationals of the affected
countries, which translates to an average of 6,125 visas per
month. This number is now down to two over a span of time
from Dec. 8, 2017 to Feb. 15, 2018. According to the statistics
as revealed by the letter addressed to Sen. Van Hollen, there
Affected applicant statistics
as per Department of State
from December 8, 2017 to
January 8, 2018, with rate of
approved waivers through
February 15, 2018
appears to be an unprecedented denial rate of 99.9 percent
as of Feb. 15, 2018. According to a more recent Senate letter
from Senators Chris Van Hollen and Senator Chris Murphy
to DOS dated April 19, 2018, it is the Senators’ understanding
that the State Department had issued about 450 waivers as of
the date of said letter.
The senators requested (from DOS) “complete reports
submitted by the Secretary of Homeland Security to the
President every 180 days under Section 4 of PP9645 and
any similar recommendation reports submitted prior to the
announcement of PP 9645.”
The Senators requested the guidance the State Department
issued to U.S. Consular posts concerning implementation
of the PP 9645 and the criteria used for evaluating waivers.
Total applications for non-immigrant & immigrant visas 8,406
Applicants rejected for reasons other than the proclamation 1,723
Applicants who qualified for an exception (waiver was not required) 128
Applicants who failed to meet the criteria for a waiver 6,282
Applicants who failed to meet the proclamation with waiver consideration 271
Waivers approved as of February 15, 2018 2
Source: United States Department of State letter to Sen. Chris Van Hollen, dated Feb. 22, 2018, “Sensitive but Unclassified” attachment.
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