After public outcry, the United States has granted a visa waiver to a Yemeni woman whose dying son is on life support in a California hospital, the family’s lawyer said on Tuesday. Shaima Swileh is expected to arrive in California’s Bay Area on Wednesday evening, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Sacramento Valley (CAIR-SV). “This is the happiest day of my life,” said Ali Hassan, Swileh’s husband, an American citizen.“Just last week I was about to pull him off life support … This will allow us to mourn in dignity,” he said in a statement. Swileh’s case prompted widespread outrage this week after reports surfaced that the young mother had been waiting for more than a year for a decision on a visa waiver.
Swileh’s visa application was rejected last year because of travel restrictions introduced in the so-called “Muslim ban”, which bars individuals from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.
Hassan had previously said that he had requested that the Department of State expedite a decision on Swileh’s visa waiver plea so she could say goodbye to their son Abdulla, who has a rare degenerative brain disease and may not survive much longer.
Source: aljazeera.com
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
