Of the 45,000 Iranians who applied for visa waivers between January 2017 and July 2020, only 7,000 visas were granted, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. “The impact was across the board – financially, emotionally, educationally, professionally, romantically,” said Reza Mazaheri, an immigration lawyer in New York who represents many Iranians.
For others, the ban is a closed, tragic chapter.
Mohamed Abdelrahman, a Libyan businessman, thought he had hit the jackpot in 2017 when he won a green card lottery and offered an escape route from a country plunged deep into chaos, his cousin, Mohamed Al- Sheikh, said.
But the Trump ban has Mr. Abdelrahman was forced to postpone and before he could leave Libya, he had a stroke and died.
If there had been no ban, ‘his life might have been completely different’, Mr. Al-Sheikh (34) said telephonically from Tripoli. “He just needed a stable place for the rest of his life.”
Reporting was contributed by Farnaz Fassihi of New York; Vivian Yee of Cairo; Ben Hubbard and Hwaida Seed of Beirut, Lebanon; Abdi Latif Dahir of Nairobi, Kenya; Ruth MacLean of Dakar, Senegal; Mohammed Abdusamee of Tripoli, Libya; Hannah Beech of Bangkok; and Saw Nang of Yangon, Myanmar.