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, 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 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.”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 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 Centre in Alabama.