A Chapter member asked Fulbright Assoc. MI Chapter President Jeffrey G. Nutt, Esq. to send out a note to encourage visiting Fulbright scholars and fellows with questions about U.S. travel rule changes affecting refugees or travelers who have had a record of travel in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. On 2/16/2017, President Jeffrey G. Nutt prepared the following statement:

"The Fulbright Association leadership has thus far taken no position on whether visiting Fulbrighters should avoid travel outside the USA during the debate about changing U.S. travel rules regarding the seven (7) countries. We adore every Fulbrighter and are honored by your presence in the USA. Because of your selection by representatives from two nations, ­your national Fulbright selectors and your USA selectors acting on behalf of the flagship international educational exchange program of the United States government, you are very special guests. Consistent with the Fulbright ideals, Fulbrighters often travel outside and inside the USA even though reentry from outside the USA may be complicated. U.S. Customs will handle each traveler on a case-by-case basis. Having experience in all three branches of the U.S. government before a legal career, I have the utmost confidence that U.S. Customs would be liberal in granting waivers where warranted to ease the impact of immediate rule changes on visiting Fulbrighters traveling with a valid, unexpired visa.

"If you choose to travel outside the USA, keep original documentation of your Fulbright status with your passport to reduce the likelihood of an undue reentry delay. Tell Customs the truth, always. Keep your answers short. Take your hat off during U.S. Customs encounters. Look the Customs officer straight in the eye and speak English. Always remain kind and calm. Be flexible and gracious,­ what I call the two 'unwritten Fulbright selection criteria.' Make no fast moves while in U.S. Customs. Have your student ID or a letter from a U.S. Fulbright Advisor with you. If you are presently a visiting Fulbrighter with a valid, current visa, I believe it to be inconceivable that you would not be granted reentry to the USA -- even if I cannot guarantee that with 100% certainty. In the USA we say, 'The only things we can guarantee are death and taxes.' Use wisdom. Travel with at least one travel companion if possible. Your health insurance through US Fulbright is not portable outside the USA, so consider trip insurance."

While traveling between school terms to 13 countries on my Fulbright, I survived a reentry to the United Kingdom (UK) that had a storybook ending. Not finding an ATM at the port to pay for the train connections from the English Channel ferry to my distant graduate housing at university, I traveled like a migrant one day. It was Easter day 1986. I was six (6) British pounds shy of the cost of the train fare to my rooming house approximately 2 hours away by train. On the boat, I sat down next to an older British couple and introduced myself, describing where and how I had been traveling. The West German train ticket to West Berlin, I explained, did not include a charge by the then East German customs official who suddenly boarded our West German train unannounced. To my surprise, he assessed each passenger a surcharge. I had failed miserably to plan for the cost of that exigency. Before I could finish explaining to the British couple my East German customs encounter and the cost, the British gent interrupted me. He asked, "How much do you need?" I said, "Six pounds." The man said, "Here¹s ten. You can have something to eat along the way. The Americans treated me very well in the states during the war." I immediately sent the couple a reimbursement check for 15 pounds upon my return to Oxford that day as I was so very grateful. They wrote me back and said that they donated the 15 pounds to cancer research and, if I were ever in Dover, England again, that I should feel free to visit them.

Enjoy your Fulbright experience to the fullest as you make this world a better place!

Jeffrey G. Nutt, Esq., Fulbright Association Michigan Chapter President; US-UK Fulbright Alum,
St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University 1986