Tens of thousands more visas were denied in 2018 than previously because of President Trump's travel ban on certain countries, according to data released Tuesday.According to Reuters, the State Department said it rejected over 37,000 visa applications last year because of the travel ban restrictions, many times more than the 1,000 blocked in 2017, before the ban kicked in completely.The ban mostly affects the Muslim-majority countries Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Visas issued to those countries are down 80 percent since 2016. About 14,600 visas were granted to applicants from those five countries from October, 2017 to September, 2018, down from the 72,000 approved the year before.The ban also restricted visas for those from Venezuela and North Korea.Last year, the government rejected 15,384 applications for immigrant (permanent resident) visas because of the ban, as well as 21,645 short-term visit applications.After Trump announced the ban in Janu...
