STATE DEPARTMENT MEMO ADDRESSES PROCESSING OF IRANIAN CASES

The State Department has issued a guidance memorandum to all consulates around the world instructing them on how to process Iranian visa applications. The memo was written in response to a recent set of regulations issued by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the body that is responsible for administering US trade sanctions against Iran. The new OFAC regulations greatly reduce restrictions on Iranian immigration, but until consular officers got instructions from the State Department directly, applicants overseas could be expected to face difficulty in processing.

The State Department memo states that no illegal importation of Iranian services will be deemed involved when an Iranian national is

1. otherwise eligible to receive a visa in one of several specific visa categories (see below) and
2. performs in the US activities of the type for which the visa is issued.

Categories where the applicant serves as an agent, employee or contractor for the Iranian government or a business or other organization in Iran are still covered by the sanctions.

Previously, the State Department took the viewpoint that the sanctions precluded US employers from hiring Iranians resident recently in Iran to come to the US to perform full time services for a US employer.

Basically, most non-immigrants can now process for a visa. Notable exceptions would be an E-1 Treaty Trader visa since that visa requires a showing of doing substantial trade with the national’s country and the L-1 visa for people transferring from companies in Iran (as opposed to being transferred from companies outside of Iran).

The State Department memo also reminded consular officers that Iranians still may be subject to special security checks before coming in and these would not be affected by the OFAC rules.

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