***What I learnt today about the proclamation***

The UC Union of Postdocs and Academic Researchers explained us more details about this recent executive proclamation (valid until Dec 2020).

I’ll try to summarize it in thread. (1/n)

1) IMMIGRANT VISAS (= green card):
-If you are applying for a GC from INSIDE the US, starting from another valid visa, you are NOT affected.
- If you are applying to for a GC from OUTSIDE the US, you are affected (= cannot enter the country with an immigrant permit). (2/n)

2) TEMPORARY NON-IMMIGRANT VISAS- H1B:
- if you are applying for an H1B from OUTSIDE the US, you are affected and will NOT be able to get a new visa, thus not allowed into the country. (3/n)

-if you have a valid H1B and are OUTSIDE the US, you will most certainly NOT be able to re-entry. You can ask to switch to another visa which is not affected by the proclamation. (4/n)

-if you are INSIDE the US with a valid H1B, you can stay and work. If it is going to expire while this proclamation is still active, you can still ask for an extension, but do NOT travel outside. Especially, do NOT go out to apply from outside. (5/n)

-if you are in the US w/ a J1 visa and you applied for an H1 visa, you are NOT affected (you will get your H1). (6/n)

3) TEMPORARY NON-IMMIGRANT VISAS- J1:
- wherever you are, you can apply for J1 within the categories short term scholars, research scholars, professor, specialist, and you are NOT affected. You will get your visa and be able to travel IN and OUT of the country (SEE POINT 5) (7/n)

-if you are outside the US now and have a J1 valid stamp, you can still come in (again- see point 5)

-Other J1 categories (e.g. intern, trainee, teacher, camp counselor, au pair, or summer work travel program) ARE affected as the H1B and follow the same rules as H1B/H2B. (8/n)

4) OTHER EXEMPTIONS:
-Any worker involved in food supplies or national interest-related work (e.g. covid-related research, medical care, and others-not clear), you can apply for a waiver to be exempted from the ban, and still come IN, even with a visa affected by the ban. (9/n)

-F1/OPT are NOT affected from this proclamation, but some things can change. (10/n)

5) PREVIOUS COVID PROCLAMATION
-A prior proclamation from April 2020 is still banning people (all the non-citizen and non-immigrant visa holders) from re-entering the US if you spent the previous 15 days in specific countries. This list is endless (e.g. all Schengen area). (11/n)

Example: if you have a valid J1 and you are currently in one of these “banned” countries, you cannot directly fly to the US, you would have to spend 15 days in a non-banned country before getting admitted to the US.

-not sure when these restrictions will be lifted (12/n)

6) THE COURT
-There still room for this proclamation to be considered as unconstitutional and to be challenged in Court. Not at all an expert in this, but apparently there is hope. (13/n)

7) SOURCES
old (but still active) ban due to covid19: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/presidential-proclamation-coronavirus.html?fbclid=IwAR0c6OcPX7cxucDfU2peNa6_qKetNtfE56DnKQ8fglmlzr0tGfMb5dhxj_M

new proclamation: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-aliens-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-following-coronavirus-outbreak/?fbclid=IwAR1jHRCqn-O8KmXUSf4r4GzYyMHqs-1oatuzS9gIYOfWXPYTp4ECODGdevI
(14/n)

A HUGE thank you to the lawyer Stacey Gartland who took the time today to explain all this, and to @UAW5810_Davis and to the whole UC Postdoc Union to organize this zoom meeting.
I am not an expert, I just took a lot of notes, correct me if I got something wrong!

(15/15-end)

The whole 1h informative session has been recorded here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2593313900881331&id=143150320833

Edit to point (2): if you have a valid H1B you might be able to re-enter. you “just” won’t get a new one if you are outside.

For more information and answers to our questions, check out this new thread https://twitter.com/carmenfalcone6/status/1276742003116527616?s=21