IMPORTANT: Update Regarding Travel Restriction Proclamation

Dear Members of the UMBC Community,

We are writing to provide information on President Trump’s proclamation, announcedSunday, imposing restrictions on citizens of eight nations seeking entry to the United States. The countries included in the updated travel ban are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen (all included in the previous version of the ban), as well as Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela. Sudan has been removed from the list.

Each country on the list has its own specific restrictions. For example, Iranians can now apply for student and exchange visitor visas, but not most other visa categories, while Venezuelans and their families are restricted from obtaining a tourist visa if they work for certain branches of the Venezuelan government. All changes will take effect on October 18, except for the lifting of restrictions on Sudan, which took effect immediately.

For further detailed information on current restrictions and how they might impact members of the UMBC community, please see the International Education Services (IES) website. Additional guidance is available from NAFSA: Association of International Educators and American Immigration Lawyers Association.

As we have said before, and will continue to affirm, one of American higher education’s great strengths is its ability to bring together the best minds from around the world to create scholarly communities that benefit from diversity of experience, background, and thought. UMBC is home to students, faculty, and staff from more than 100 countries. We remain steadfast in our support for members of our Retriever family from around the globe who are pursuing transformative education and purposeful careers.

We will continue to update the campus about our work to advance UMBC’s culture of inclusive excellence through future messages, as needed, and through the UMBC Diversity and Inclusion website.

President Freeman Hrabowski and Provost Philip Rous

Dear Members of the UMBC Community,

We want to provide information to our community following Monday’s announcement of the Supreme Court opinion regarding the president’s executive order imposing a temporary ban on citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen entering the U.S.

The opinion allows a portion of the executive order to resume temporarily, until a full Supreme Court hearing in October. The court stated that the travel ban “may not be enforced” against non-U.S. citizens who have an established and documented relationship with a person or entity in the United States. The Maryland Office of the Attorney General has advised us that this exemption includes those traveling to the United States to visit family, work for a U.S. employer, or enroll at a college or university. The administration has not yet published guidance on the timing or implementation of the court’s decision.

This situation remains highly fluid. For further detailed information on the executive order and the recent court opinion, and how they might impact members of the UMBC community, please see the International Education Services (IES) website. Additional guidance can be found on the NAFSA-Association of International Educators website, as well as on the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s website.

As we have said before, one of American higher education’s great strengths is its ability to bring together the best minds from around the world to create scholarly communities that benefit from diversity of experience, background, and thought. UMBC is home to students, faculty, and staff from more than 100 countries, and we understand the educational, societal, and economic benefits of bringing together people from across the globe to solve our most pressing challenges.

We also will continue to update the campus about our work to advance UMBC’s culture of inclusive excellence on the UMBC Diversity and Inclusion website.