Attorneys and foreign nationals are reporting that US consular officers in Europe are denying O-1 visas for individuals who “possesses extraordinary ability” or a “demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement” based on the March 11, 2020, presidential proclamation (PP 9993) that restricted travel to the US from the Schengen Area, which includes twenty-six European countries. This March 11 proclamation stated: “The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the Schengen Area during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States is hereby suspended and limited.” (Other proclamations enacted similar travel restrictions for other countries including England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, as well as Brazil.)
Attorneys say clients applying for O-1 visa stamps who intend to quarantine for fourteen days in a country not subject to the regional-based proclamations are still being denied visas. A State Department official confirmed in Forbes that O-1 visa applicants cannot get visas to the US unless they qualified for a “national interest exception” which would be for certain “business travelers, investors, treaty traders, academics, and students” who “may qualify for national interest exceptions under Presidential Proclamations (PPs) 9993 (Schengen Area) and 9996 (United Kingdom and Ireland).” The official noted: “Consular officers also continue to consider national interest exceptions for qualified travelers seeking to enter the United States for purposes related to humanitarian travel, certain public health and healthcare travel, and national security.” Immigration attorney Rita Sostrin said that “most visa applicants would not meet the standard” for the national interest exception.
Examples of individuals who have received O-1 visa denials include a highly accomplished filmmaker who was refused an O-1 visa at the US Embassy in Paris in early August, even though he was planning to quarantine in another country before travel to the US, and a noted Polish actress and singer who was refused an O-1 visa at the US Embassy in Warsaw. Debbi Klopman, the attorney for the Polish actress, believes the visa should have been issued to her client. “Proclamation 9993 is not a ban against visa issuance in Schengen Area countries,” she said in Forbes, and noted that a “visa denial creates significant roadblocks to the applicant the next time he or she attempts to obtain a visa.” She added: “This current policy appears driven by an anti-immigrant culture within the administration.”