Visa and immigration policy: Country-specific restrictions

White House restricts US entry for nationals of 39 countries

During his second administration, President Trump has issued two proclamations banning most foreign nationals of specific countries from traveling to the US. Starting on June 9, 2025, 19 countries were affected by this travel ban.¹ The second proclamation, which was published December 16, 2025 and went into effect January 1, 2026, expanded the restrictions to 20 additional countries.² This ban has no end date.

Under these proclamations, some countries are subject to a full ban on entry to the US of any immigrants or nonimmigrants. Other countries are under a partial ban, which prevents all immigrants as well as individuals on B (visitor for business or tourism), F (student), M (vocational student), and J (exchange visitor) visas from entering the US.

The following countries are currently under a full travel ban, with italics denoting those added under the December proclamation: Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen.

The following countries are currently under a partial travel ban, with italics denoting those added under the December proclamation: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

No country was moved from a partial to a full travel ban under the December proclamation.

Court blocks effort to apply lists to nationals already in US

Following the proclamations, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) issued separate guidance instructing officers adjudicating requests by nationals from countries on the lists to consider their nationality as a negative factor. Such requests include adjustment of status applications, extensions of nonimmigrant stays, and changes of nonimmigrant status.³ Then, USCIS announced it would:⁴

• Pause processing on all requests for asylum regardless of country of origin
• Pause processing of any petitions submitted by nationals from the 19 listed countries
• Re-review all approved benefit requests submittedby nationals from the 19 listed countries who entered the US on or after January 20, 2021.

However, in June 2026 a federal judge struck down USCIS’s guidance. While the government argued it has broad authority over discretionary benefits as well as entry to the US, the judge held that the policies had been insufficiently justified, improperly implemented, and were discriminating based on nationality, which is barred by 8 U.S.C § 1152(a)(1)(A).⁵ The administration can appeal the ruling and request a stay of the decision during the appeal.

Backed by president’s authority over entry, travel ban remains in place

The June 2026 court ruling has no bearing on the entry restrictions put in place through President Trump’s proclamations, which are based on the president’s broad authority to control foreign nationals’ entry to the US under 8 USC 1182(f), also known as INA 212(f). In this case, the proclamations were justified by alleging deficiencies in the countries’ policies, practices, and conditions that could impact US national security, including:

• Prevalence of terrorism
• Not cooperating in accepting repatriations
• Providing insufficient screening and vetting information
• Having high visa overstay rates
• Not adhering to sound practices in issuing passports and sharing passport information
• Allowing the purchase of citizenship without residency

Documents

Cite this resource

AIP Policy Research, “Country-specific bans on US entry,” Visa and immigration policy guide, American Institute of Physics, 2026, https://www.aip.org/research/visa-immigration/country-specific-bans.

Last updated

July 29, 2026