Of 45,000 Iranians who applied for a visa waiver between January 2017 and July 2020, only 7,000 received visas, according to the State Department. “The impact has been widespread – financially, emotionally, educationally, professionally, romantically,” said Reza Mazaheri, a New York-based immigration lawyer who represents many Iranians.
For others, the ban is a closed and tragic chapter.
Mohamed Abdelrahman, a Libyan businessman, thought he hit the jackpot in 2017, when he won the green card lottery, offering an escape route from a country that was plunged into chaos, said his nephew, Mohamed Al-Sheikh.
But Trump’s ban forced Abdelrahman to postpone, and before he could leave Libya, he suffered a stroke and died.
If there were no prohibition, “his life could have been completely different,” said al-Sheikh, 34, speaking by phone from Tripoli. “He just needed a stable place to live for the rest of his life.”
The report was contributed by Farnaz Fassihi from New York; Vivian Yee, from Cairo; Ben Hubbard and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon; Abdi Latif Dahir from Nairobi, Kenya; Ruth MacLean from Dakar, Senegal; Mohammed Abdusamee from Tripoli, Libya; Hannah Beech, from Bangkok; and Saw Nang from Yangon, Myanmar.