Dubai: Dubai expatriates Sarah Al Shammari, 30, and her Yemeni husband were planning a trip to the United States in April to visit her family in North Carolina, their first US trip together since their son, Yousuf, was born in December 2015.

The family’s holiday plans were dashed when US President Donald Trump announced he was temporarily banning citizens of seven Muslim majority countries from entering the US. While both Sarah and her son are US citizens and exempt from the ban, her husband’s Yemeni citizenship means he now cannot enter the country.

When Sarah told her family that the trip was cancelled, they were extremely disappointed.

“It’s just really frustrating. I’m not willing to make this flight alone with the baby. Fourteen hours on the plane with a one-year-old is kind of a nightmare scenario,” she told Gulf News.

The first time Sarah’s husband applied for a visa, he had waited nine months for it to be issued.

“I don’t know how much more intense it could be,” Sarah said.

“Now, I don’t know how difficult it would be for him to go to the country, if they would want to take him aside or take him into a special room. I hope not.”

Sarah and her husband have been living in the UAE since 2004 when they both attended the American University of Sharjah.

Her husband, who did not want to be named, is one of the thousands of Yemeni nationals who are still reeling from Trump’s executive order on the visa ban. “The US is made of immigrants and the fact that the ban is based solely on nationality and religion is shocking,” he said.

He pointed out that even when the ban is lifted, he will have to wait and see how it affects Yemeni nationals going forward.

“I would have to check if any other Yemenis have applied and been accepted because the one thing I don’t want to risk is a rejection on my record that could prevent me from getting visas in the future,” he said.

Yousuf’s father also commented that he was encouraged by the positive global reaction.

“You usually are under the impression that Muslims are viewed unfavourably in general because of all of the things that the media covers on the negative aspects of the Muslim community,” he said.

“But to see thousands of people on the street holding up signs that are pro-immigration and pro-Muslim shows that the US is really an encouraging country and stands for what it claims.”

Sarah believes the backlash against Trump is probably not what the new president might have expected.

“For a few years now since 9/11, everyone’s been very hesitant when it comes to Muslims. But now it seems like everyone’s more supportive,” she said. “They realise that just because you’re Muslim doesn’t mean you’re a terrorist.”

— Alison Xiao is an intern at Gulf News.