US administration mulls travel ban on nationals from 41 countries

An internal memo seen by Reuters revealed that the countries are listed in three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea, would face a full visa suspension.

In the second group, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan would face partial suspensions impacting tourist and student visas, as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.

The third group includes 26 countries, including Pakistan, Belarus, and Turkmenistan, among others. The memo said these countries would face a partial suspension of US visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days.”

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that there could be changes to the list and that it had not yet been approved by Trump’s administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Earlier in January, Trump issued an executive order requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the US under the pretext of detecting national security threats.

The order obliged several cabinet members to submit, by March 21, a list of countries from which travel should be partially or fully suspended due to “vetting and screening information being so deficient.”

In an October 2023 speech, Trump vowed to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”

The move reminds many of Trump’s first-term ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Iran at the time described the ban as “illegal, inhumane and in violation of human rights”, stating that Tehran would take reciprocal measures.

The Islamic Republic highlighted that the law laid bare before the world the kind of human rights advocated and practiced by the US.