Following today's decision by the US Supreme Court, the Travel Ban is back in force for nationals of Iran, Chad, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Somalia, Venezuela and Yemen, regardless of a "bona fide relationship" to a US person or entity.
Applying for a Waiver
Nationals of these countries applying for US visas should look at applying for a "Waiver" based on "undue hardship", absence of "threat to National Security" and for "National Interest" to the US. We recommend that you prepare a waiver request with documentation and submit it before the visa interview, requesting that the office consider and make a waiver decision at the interview.
Cases in Administrative Processing
On cases where the interview has taken place and the case is in "Administrative Processing" stage, it is unclear whether we will be notified by the consulate if there is a security clearance on a case, at which point we could submit a request for waiver from the travel ban along with supportive documents. We will be requesting clarification from the Department of State on this issue. We will keep following up on these cases.