Trump's immigration decree means new visa renewal procedure for citizens of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and others
The U.S. Embassy in Minsk has announced a change to visa processing procedures after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a controversial executive order pertaining to immigration and visas on January 27th. While outrage has erupted across the world over the decision to ban citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for a period of 90 days, the executive order also stated that citizens of countries that are required to obtain visas to enter the U.S. are no longer allowed to submit their visa for renewal if it has been more than one year since the visa’s expiration date. Previously, applicants were able to file for renewal if their visa had been expired for less than 4 years.
The U.S. Embassy in Belarus defers most visa applications to other diplomatic posts in Russia, Poland, or Ukraine, except for visa renewals and urgent travel purposes.
According to a statement on the U.S. Embassy in Minsk’s website that was posted on January 30th, “For applicants seeking to renew visas, only applicants whose visa expired fewer than 12 months ago are eligible to renew their visas in Minsk. All other applicants seeking renewals whose visas expired more than 12 months ago must apply for their visas at other posts.”
The new visa procedure applies to all countries that do not have a visa waiver with the United States, including Russia and Ukraine.