On Jan. 20, 2021, his first day in office, President Biden signed the “Proclamation on Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to the United States,” revoking the series of proclamations and executive orders that made up the Trump Administration’s “Muslim Ban.” This action opens the door for nationals from thirteen countries to have pending visa applications expedited, denials reconsidered and first-time applications accepted after more than three years.

Nearly three years after issuing the first travel ban, President Donald Trump issued Proclamation 9983, “Improving Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry,” known as the expanded travel ban. The expanded travel ban furthers the administration’s efforts to ban people from majority Muslim countries from entering the United States. The expanded travel ban applies to nationals from Myanmar (Burma), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. Similar to the previous travel ban, the expanded travel ban will continue to separate families and exclude valuable employees and religious workers from the United States.

President Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27, 2017 barring people from seven countries from entering the United States for 90 days. The order was blocked by federal courts and the Trump administration replaced it with a revised, narrower travel ban that was supposed to be implemented on March 16.