Trump Travel Ban Current List of Restricted Countries and Exemptions

President Trump formalized a sweeping travel ban under Presidential Proclamation 10998, barring or limiting entry and visa issuance for nationals of 39 countries and for travelers using Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents.

The order, issued on December 16, 2025, took effect on January 1, 2026. As of March 2026, the policy remains in effect with no major changes reported, while the government continues a review process that could modify, lift, or expand it.

Presidential Proclamation 10998 marked a broad expansion of the June 2025 version of the travel ban. That earlier policy fully banned 12 countries and partially restricted 7 others. The final proclamation raised that to 19 countries facing full bans and 19 facing partial restrictions.

The administration built the policy from a June 4, 2025, State Department memo signed by Secretary Marco Rubio. That memo warned 36 countries they could face restrictions unless they improved passport security, the reliability of identity documents, cooperation on deportations, and visa overstay rates within 60 days, by mid-August 2025.

Countries that failed to meet those demands then faced the January 1, 2026, restrictions. The final policy added Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Syria to the full-ban list, and widened partial restrictions to 19 countries, many drawn from that earlier warning list.

Countries Subject to a Full Ban

Under the current rules, nationals of Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen face a full suspension of both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas if they were outside the United States on January 1, 2026, and lacked valid visas.

The same full bar applies to individuals traveling on documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.

Countries Facing Partial Restrictions

Another 19 countries face partial restrictions. Those are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

For those countries, the policy bars immigrant visas and B-1/B-2 business and tourist visas, F student visas, M vocational student visas and J exchange visitor visas. Other nonimmigrant visa categories, including H-1B and L-1, may still be issued, but the proclamation sets shorter validity periods, including a maximum three months and single-entry terms for non-suspended categories.

Turkmenistan falls into a narrower category. It now faces an immigrant visa suspension only, rather than a full ban or B/F/M/J nonimmigrant restrictions.

Reasons Given for the Policy

The administration has said the expanded travel ban addresses terrorism threats, poor vetting and a lack of cooperation from foreign governments. It also points to unreliable passports, high overstay rates, deportation non-cooperation and what it describes as anti-American activities.

Some countries with citizenship-by-investment programs that do not require residency, including Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, drew added scrutiny under that rationale. President Trump has framed the policy as protecting Americans from “foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks.”

Exemptions and Screening

The proclamation does not apply to everyone from the listed countries. Lawful Permanent Residents, dual nationals traveling on a non-restricted passport, certain Special Immigrant Visa holders who worked for the U.S. government, ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran, participants in major sporting events, certain diplomatic visa holders in A, G and NATO classifications, and people who held valid visas as of January 1, 2026, remain exempt.

Existing visas also remain valid and are not revoked by the proclamation. Even so, travelers covered by those exemptions face enhanced screening at ports of entry.

Family and Humanitarian Impact

One of the sharpest changes from prior versions is what the proclamation removed. Immediate family immigrant visas for spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens, adoption visas and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas are no longer categorically exempt under Presidential Proclamation 10998.

That change has widened the effect of the order on family migration. Spouses and children of U.S. citizens from affected countries now face barriers unless they fit another exemption or already held valid visas before January 1, 2026.

The order also affects people from countries facing war, instability or weak government institutions, including Syria, South Sudan and Somalia. Human rights critics have said the policy separates families and strands vulnerable people.

A Second, Separate Visa Pause

A second policy added another layer of restrictions less than a month later. Effective January 21, 2026, the State Department separately paused immigrant visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries pending a public charge review.

That suspension overlaps with the travel ban but reaches beyond it. It covers most of the countries already on the ban lists and extends to others including Albania, Algeria, Brazil, Egypt, Russia and Thailand.

Applications and interviews continue under that separate policy, but no immigrant visas are issued until the review ends. Its duration is described as indefinite. Nonimmigrant visas are not suspended under that measure, though public charge scrutiny has intensified.

Together, the two policies have created a layered system of restrictions. For nationals of countries already covered by the travel ban, the public charge pause often duplicates barriers already in place. For others not on the 39-country travel ban list, it blocks immigrant visas and delays permanent residency.

How the Lists Changed From June 2025

The June 2025 baseline and the current order also differ in how countries are categorized. Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela remained under partial restrictions from the earlier version, while Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe were added to that partial-ban group.

At the same time, the full-ban list retained Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The result is a far broader travel ban than the June 2025 policy.

The numbers reflect that expansion. Original estimates projected 34,000 immigrant and 125,000 nonimmigrant visas halted annually, and the later expansion was described as likely to double that impact.

Effects on Students, Workers and Business Travel

The restrictions reach students and exchange visitors particularly hard in partial-ban countries because F, M and J categories are suspended. Universities have reported disruptions for students and exchange participants, while employers face delays for sponsored workers even in visa categories that remain technically available.

Business travel also narrows under the proclamation. B-1 visas for partial-ban countries are suspended, and reduced visa validity for non-suspended categories limits repeat travel and longer assignments.

For families, the consequences stretch beyond tourism and temporary travel. The policy bars or delays immigrant processing, family reunification and other pathways that people had used to join relatives in the United States.

Supporters, Critics and Diplomatic Fallout

Supporters of the proclamation argue it strengthens security by blocking entry from countries that failed to meet U.S. demands on document integrity, vetting and repatriation. They also say it gives foreign governments a compliance window and ties restrictions to cooperation benchmarks.

Critics argue the policy discriminates by nationality and punishes people from poor or unstable states who had no control over their governments’ practices. They also say the removal of broad family-based exemptions deepens the toll on relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Diplomatic strain has followed. Protests from countries including Nigeria and Venezuela have put pressure on bilateral ties and raised the possibility of retaliatory restrictions.

Legal and Policy Outlook

The current order also builds on earlier Trump-era travel restrictions from 2017 that the Supreme Court upheld. In structure and reach, the 2026 framework goes further than the June 2025 version, combining 19 full bans, 19 partial restrictions and the separate 75-country immigrant visa pause.

That architecture leaves few immediate openings for many people affected by the policy. Nationals from full-ban countries who were outside the United States on January 1, 2026, and did not already hold valid visas face a near-total shutdown of both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa access, unless they qualify for one of the listed exemptions.

People from partial-ban countries face a narrower but still broad block. They cannot receive immigrant visas or the main visitor, student, vocational and exchange visas, though some temporary work or specialty visa categories remain available in reduced form.

The government continues to conduct periodic assessments, and countries can seek removal from the lists by showing improvements in security practices and cooperation. No mid-2026 lifts have been reported.

Legal challenges continue as well. The broader language of the new proclamation has prompted debate over whether it can withstand court review more easily than earlier versions.

For now, the travel ban remains one of the central features of U.S. immigration policy under Trump’s second term. As of March 2026, Presidential Proclamation 10998 and the separate public charge pause have redrawn the rules for entry, student travel, family migration and permanent residency for people across dozens of countries.

The effect is both broad and precise: a travel ban covering 39 countries, a separate immigrant visa pause covering 75 countries, and a narrower set of exemptions that leaves many families, students, workers and applicants with fewer paths into the United States.