Visa and immigration policy: Country-specific bans on US entry
The South Lawn of the White House in June 2025.
Molly Riley/White House
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 These proclamations have no expiration date.
The Trump administration justified the proclamations 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
Bans bar students and most researchers
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.
References
- Presidential proclamation 10949, “Restricting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats,” June 4, 2025, https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-10669.
- Presidential proclamation 10998, “Restricting and limiting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the security of the United States,” December 16, 2025, https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-23570.
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
March 4, 2026