Australians With Dual Citizenship Will Be Exempt From Trump’s Ban

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order restricting citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen—from entering the United States. Controversially, the order—which has drawn international criticism and caused widespread chaos and disruption in US airports—extended to dual citizens and green card holders. After days of confusion, we now have confirmation that citizens of the seven countries who hold Australian passports are exempt from the ban.

Speaking to Sky News, the Prime Minister said that the US immigration department has promised Australian passport holders will be allowed to enter the country.

"Our ambassador has just called me to say that he's had assurances—confirmation from the White House that Australian passport holders, regardless of their place of birth or whether they're dual nationals or if they hold a national passport, will remain welcome to come and go to the United States in the usual way," he told the broadcaster.

On Monday, the United Kingdom also managed to secure exemption for UK dual citizens who hold passports from the seven countries. Dual nationals from the UK will only face issues if actually travelling from the seven countries under the ban—if they try and enter the US from anywhere else, including the UK, they're fine. It is unknown at this stage whether the Australian deal will come under the same conditions.

Turnbull's much-awaited announcement comes after news broke on Monday that an Australian schoolboy with dual Iranian citizenship had his visa application for entry into the United States rejected by the Melbourne United States Consulate office. Believed to be the first Australian affected by the US visa ban, fifteen-year-old Australian-Iranian citizen Pouya Ghadirian had planned to travel to Orlando, Washington with his school for a space-themed educational trip. He told SBS that consulate officials had seemed shocked and confused, and that "they didn't know how to handle" the situation.

If Turnbull's assertion is correct, then Ghadirian will likely be able to successfully re-apply for entry into the US—the school trip is slated to take place in March of this year.

President Trump has meanwhile attempted to justify the extremity of the ban, saying on Twitter that "this was a big part of my campaign".

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