Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has declared President Trump's executive order banning travelers from eight countries fully enforceable as it fights challenges at lower courts, according to various media reports.
• Originally, the Supreme Court reached a compromise in June allowing people with "a bona fide U.S. connection" to enter the country. This iteration of the ban blocks travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela and bans travelers regardless of their connections, Bloomberg reports. 
• The travel ban faces challenges at 4th and 9th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. Oral arguments are expected in both circuits soon, and opinions there will shed some light on the future of the ban.

Dive Insight:

For employers, the main concern is figuring out which employees could be affected by the ban's enforcement and how they can be assisted. For employers with international business ties, that may mean limiting business travel to those countries by foreign national employees until a consensus is reached at the appellate level. Naturally, such an action — especially if upheld — could hamper international business activities.

Even so, employers must focus on compliance until a decision is reached. Open communication with employees who could be affected may be necessary, as foreign national employees with green cards or visas from affected countries could potentially face trouble at the border.

In the long term, if the ban is accepted, employers could see a reliable source of talent — immigrant communities — dry up, especially as nearby countries take a different approach to immigration. Applications to Canadian universities have substantially increased at the same time that international applications to U.S. universities have decreased, signaling uncertainty about future job opportunities in the U.S. for foreign national students.