Effective immediately as of July 5, 2021, all individual National Interest Exceptions (NIE’s) to the various presidential bans and proclamations (including PP 9984, 9992, 10143, 10199, and any similar subsequent PP’s) suspending travel due to the risk of transmitting Covid-19… will now be valid for 12 months and for multiple entries.  This contrasts with the much shorter 30-day validity period which had been in effect until now and had a single-entry limitation.

This expansion of NIE validity is also retroactive for NIE’s issued within the past 12 months (since July 5, 2020).

This expansion of NIE validity will be extremely valuable for individuals who travel back and forth from Covid-banned regions.  It also will help US consular officers, providing some relief from their overwhelming number of NIE requests. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any member of our Immigration practice group.