U.S. bans Sudanese from participating in visa lottery programme
January 31, 2020 (WASHINGTON) – President Trump administration on Friday banned Sudanese from taking part in the visa lottery programme saying their government has failed to meet U.S. security standards.
“Sudan generally does not comply with our identity-management performance metrics and presents a high risk, relative to other countries in the world, of terrorist travel to the United States,” said a new executive order issued by the White House.
The Order said that the ongoing transition’s process to a civilian rule in Sudan should improve opportunities for cooperation in the future.
It further underscored that Sudan has already made some progress too address its deficiencies in several areas such as the issuance of electronic passport, and improving coordination with Interpol
“Sudan has also shared exemplars of its passports with the United States and now permanently invalidates lost and stolen passports and fraudulently obtained travel documents”.
In 2017, President Donald Trump voiced his criticism of the lottery programme and called on the U.S. Congress to work on this matter.
He said this programme does not benefit to the US saying that foreign countries “give us their worst people”. He further blamed the lottery visa system for the admittance of people from nations that are state sponsors of terrorism.
Sudan, with North Koria, Iran and Syria, is designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
The decision to restrict the entry of Sudanese nationals under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme (DV) does not reflect any diminution in the United States’ determination to support the civilian-led transitional government, the U.S. embassy in Khartoum said on Twitter.
Also, “It does not impact any other visa categories. Nonimmigrant (visitors, students) visas and all other immigrant visas are unaffected,” further stressed the embassy.
The Executive Order said that the foreign-government-supplied information are especially important for screening and vetting the Diversity Visa population.
“In many cases, the United States Government may not have the same amount of information about Diversity Visa applicants compared with other categories of immigrant visa applicants,”
“Diversity Visa applicants, with limited exceptions, do not have the burden to show certain family ties to or employment in the United States, or particular service to the United States Government, as required for other immigrant visa categories”.
Tanzania was also banned from the lottery programme.
“Tanzania does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics”.
According to the Order, The United States will suspend visas that can lead to permanent residency for nationals of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria.
(ST)