Trump Administration Mulls New Travel Ban Affecting 43 Nations

The Trump administration is considering a ban on travel to the United States that could reach citizens of as many as 43 countries, a broader set of restrictions than those imposed during President Donald Trump's first term, The New York Times reported on March 14, citing officials familiar with the matter. The countries named so far come from a draft list of recommendations prepared by diplomatic and security officials, not from a final decision, and the officials told the newspaper that the list was likely to change.

Three Tiers of Restrictions

According to the Times, the draft proposes a "red" list of 11 countries whose citizens would be barred outright from entering the United States: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

A second, "orange" list of 10 countries would face restrictions short of a full ban. Under that tier, affluent business travelers might still be allowed to enter, but people seeking immigrant or tourist visas would not, and applicants would be required to sit for in-person visa interviews. The orange list in the draft includes Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.

A third, "yellow" list of 22 countries would be given 60 days to address perceived deficiencies or risk being moved into one of the stricter tiers. The Times said such problems could include failing to share information about incoming travelers with the United States, inadequate security practices for issuing passports, or selling citizenship to people from banned countries. That group includes Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe.

How the List Is Being Developed

The review was set in motion on Mr. Trump's first day back in office. His January 20 executive order directed the secretary of state, the attorney general, the secretary of homeland security and the director of national intelligence to report within 60 days on countries "for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries." That deadline falls around March 21.

The Times reported that the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs is leading the work, with embassies, regional bureaus and other agencies reviewing whether the draft's descriptions of each country are accurate. The State Department had previously said it was "committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process." It remains unclear whether current visa holders or green card holders would be exempt.

Questions Raised by the Draft

Some countries on the draft red and orange lists were covered by Mr. Trump's first-term bans, but many are new, and the Times noted that the reasons for including several were unclear. Bhutan, a small Himalayan nation between China and India, was proposed for a full ban even though neither of its large neighbors appears on any of the lists. Restricting travel from Russia would sit uneasily with the administration's efforts to improve relations with Moscow, and including Venezuela could complicate recent cooperation with Caracas on deportations, the newspaper reported.

Echoes of the First-Term Ban

During Mr. Trump's first term, federal courts blocked the first two versions of his travel ban, but the Supreme Court ultimately allowed a revised version to take effect that barred citizens of eight countries, six of them predominantly Muslim. President Joe Biden revoked those restrictions shortly after taking office in January 2021, calling them "a stain on our national conscience" and "inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all," the Times recalled.

The administration has framed the new review as a security measure. The January order states that it is U.S. policy to protect citizens from foreign nationals "who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes."

Update (June 10, 2025): President Trump signed a proclamation on June 4, 2025, that fully restricts entry for nationals of 12 countries and partially restricts seven others, effective June 9, The Guardian reported. The final list, published in the Federal Register on June 10, differs from the March draft; Bhutan, North Korea, Syria, Russia and Pakistan, for example, were not included.