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Dual-citizen Australian schoolboy denied entry to US for space camp
Dual citizen Australian schoolboy denied entry to US for space camp
(about 3 hours later)
A Melbourne schoolboy denied entry into America under Donald Trump’s travel ban is hopeful Australia will be able to work out a deal so he can still go to space camp.
The Melbourne schoolboy denied entry into America under Donald Trump’s travel ban says he is now hopeful he will be allowed to go to space camp in the US after Malcolm Turnbull said Australian dual nationals would not be affected by the US travel ban.
Dual Australian-Iranian citizen Pouya Ghadirian, 15, says he has been in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and said there was some hope and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has now said Australian dual nationals will not be affected by the US travel ban.
Dual Australian-Iranian citizen Pouya Ghadirian, 15, said he was relieved to hear the prime minister confirm dual nationals such as himself would be exempt from Trump’s temporary ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries visiting the US.
“I hope the government does help to do what it can to uphold my rights as an Australian citizen,” the Melbourne high school student told reporters on Monday night. “To not be able to go to the United States devalues my passport and my rights as an Australian citizen.
“I am happy about this decision but I can’t really tell [if I’ll be able to go to the US] until I go to the consulate again,” he said on Tuesday. “We are contacting them now.”
“It’s all a political matter, but hopefully the government can sort out an arrangement with the United States and make sure Australia is part of that list of countries where dual citizens can still go to the United States.”
Pouya believes he might have been the first Australian declined entry into America as part of Trump’s controversial ban on those from some Muslim-majority countries. He said he was “gutted” that he was knocked back for a US tourist visa, potentially missing out on his dreams to go to space camp in Alabama in March.
Pouya believes he might be the first Australian declined entry into America as part of Trump’s controversial ban on those from some Muslim-majority countries. He is “gutted” at the prospect that, after being knocked back for a US tourist visa, he will miss out on his dreams to go to “space camp” in Alabama in March.
Pouya was born in Australia but holds dual Iranian-Australian citizenship by descent.
Pouya was born in Australia but holds dual Iranian-Australian citizenship by descent.
He says he cried after his interview at the US consulate in Melbourne on Monday morning, when “shocked” officers were forced to decline his school trip to visit Orlando, Washington, and the US Space and Rocket Center in Alabama.
He says he cried after his interview at the US consulate in Melbourne on Monday morning, when “shocked” officers were forced to decline his school trip to visit Orlando, Washington, and the US Space and Rocket Centre in Alabama.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, told Sky News that Australian diplomats in Washington were working with the Trump administration on a blanket exemption for dual nationals, as had been secured by the United Kingdom.“We’ve got a very good relationship with the US and we will work with the US on individual cases if problems arise,” he told the Seven Network on Tuesday.
“Here you have a situation in the United States where a number of countries have been selected [and] there’s no clear reason why these countries and not some other countries have been selected,” she said.
Plibersek described the US decision as “heavy handed” and said it had been implemented with a “slightly clumsy” approach.
