Emergency Contact Executive Order on immigration affects vessel crews Home Latest updates News Executive Order on immigration affects vessel crews 1 Feb 2017 Download View pdf Sign up for alerts Article source: Freehill Hogan & Mahar LLP On 27 January 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order (E.O.) entitled Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States . This E.O. will impact vessels calling in the U.S. with crew members on board who are citizens of Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Libya. Temporary Ban on Immigrant and Non-immigrant Entry Into the U.S. The key provision of the Order which will impact vessels' crew is Section 3(c), banning for 90 days any immigrant or non-immigrant entry into the U.S. of foreign citizens from Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iran and Libya. Having reviewed the Order, we think it is clear that for the next 90 days crew members from Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Libya, whether or not they hold visas, will be denied entry to the U.S. Shipowners should anticipate that crew from the seven affected countries will be denied shore leave if their vessel calls at a U.S. port. Although it is difficult to predict how the E.O. will be fully implemented, we do not believe that vessels carrying crew from the seven countries will be denied entry into a U.S. port. However, we would not be surprised if a vessel were ordered to post hired security guards at the vessel's gangway to insure that such crew members do not depart the vessel. In addition, crew replacements in the U.S. will be complicated, if not prohibited, by the E.O., if they involve crew from any of the seven designated countries. At least initially, we would expect CBP, Homeland Security and INS to exercise very limited, if any, discretion in the enforcement of this E.O. News reports of the initial implementation suggest that the E.O. was being applied to the letter of its terms. Therefore, it is recommended that for the next