Will Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, be back on a US visa blacklist once he retires?
<p>India's sitting prime minister Narendra Modi was USA's visa ban list for several years for inciting a pogrom in Gujarat in 2002, where around 900 Muslims were murdered. He was removed from the list once he became the PM.</p>
<p>What does the US law say about him when he retires? Will he be a natural candidate for a ban again?</p>

<p>Modi was found inadmissible under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182#a_2_G" rel="nofollow noreferrer">8 USC 1182(a)(2)(G)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(G) <strong>Foreign government officials who have committed particularly severe violations of religious freedom</strong></p>
<p>Any alien who, while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom, as defined in section 6402 of title 22, is inadmissible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There may be some discretion in determining whether an individual participated in violations of religious freedom, but once that determination has been made, there is no discretion: the person is inadmissible.  There is a provision for this inadmissibility to be waived by the Secretary of Homeland Security, but without such a waiver, the Department of State cannot issue a visa.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He was removed from the list once he became the PM.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This isn't precisely true. What happened, rather, is that because he became India's head of government, he became eligible to enter the US with an A-1 visa as a foreign head of government (and only with an A-1 visa, regardless of the purpose of his visit).  Under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1102" rel="nofollow noreferrer">8 USC 1102</a> the aforementioned ground of inadmissibility does not apply to diplomatic visa classes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, for so long as they continue in the nonimmigrant classes enumerated in this section, the provisions of this chapter relating to ineligibility to receive visas and the removal of aliens shall not be construed to apply to nonimmigrants—</p>
<p>(1) within the class described in paragraph (15)(A)(i) of section 1101(a) of this title, except those provisions relating to reasonable requirements of passports and visas as a means of identification and documentation necessary to establish their qualifications under such paragraph (15)(A)(i), and, under such rules and regulations as the President may deem to be necessary, the provisions of subparagraphs (A) through (C) of section 1182(a)(3) of this title;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Modi was ineligible to visit the US as a &quot;visitor for business or pleasure&quot; before he became prime minister, and he still is, and he will continue to be after he ceases to be prime minister.  However, while he is prime minister he is eligible to visit the US as an official representative of the Indian government.</p>
<p>In this circumstance, the State Department can prevent him from traveling to the US by declaring him <em>persona non grata,</em> for which no justification is needed.  This is a purely political decision that does not need to be linked to any statutory provision nor to any particular behavior or other set of facts.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What does the US law say about him when he retires? Will he be a natural candidate for a ban again?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No, he won't be a candidate for a ban.  His existing inadmissibility will automatically resume its effect of preventing him from traveling to the US.</p>

united-states