Grandparents of US citizens from six Muslim-majority countries are now eligible to receive US visas, according to a State Department memo seen by Reuters that reflects the latest court ruling on US President Donald Trump's travel ban.
The memo, or cable, from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was sent to all US diplomatic posts overseas on Friday after a US district judge in Hawaii issued a ruling late on Thursday limiting the scope of the administration's temporary ban on refugees and travellers from the six countries.
US District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu found the government cannot bar grandparents and other relatives of United States citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from getting visas under the ban.
Watson declined to put his ruling on hold pending appeal, meaning it went into effect immediately. The administration has asked the Supreme Court and San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to block the decision.
The July 14 cable updated the definition of "close family" that are exempt from the temporary travel ban laid down in Trump's March 6 executive order.
The cable reversed the State Department's previous, narrow definition of close family and stated that "grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, and cousins" are eligible for visas.
In another reversal, the State Department had originally interpreted the Supreme Court's June 26 ruling to exclude fiances, saying they do not count as a close family relationship eligible for an exemption to the travel ban. Just before the 90-day travel ban was to take effect on June 29, the State Department said fiances would be counted as close family.
Last month the Supreme Court partially revived the March 6 ban that had been blocked by lower courts. It said the ban could take effect, but people with a "bona fide relationship" to a US person or entity could not be barred.
