Written question asked by Lord Ahmed (Non-affiliated) on Wednesday, 27 April 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 12 May 2016. It was answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 May 2016 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

USA: Visas

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of the US regarding the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015, which prevents British nationals from travelling to the US if they may have visited Iran, Sudan, Iraq or Syria in the last five years; and what assessment they have made of whether that implementation is discriminatory.

Answer: While US immigration processes are a matter for the US authorities, we have raised with the US administration the importance of clearly communicating changes to their immigration policy. The US Customs and Border Protection service has stated publicly that “the religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs of an international traveller are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the US”. We remain in close contact with the US Embassy in order to avoid inconvenience to British nationals travelling to the US.

Secondary information