Travel ban expanded to 39 countries, effective 1 January

On 16 December 2025 President Trump signed Proclamation 10998, “Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States,” expanding the entry suspensions established by Proclamation 10949 of 4 June 2025 (“Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”) to a combined total of 39 countries plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents.¹² The proclamation operates in two tiers: full suspension of immigrant and nonimmigrant entry, and partial suspension of immigrant entry and of B-1, B-2, F, M and J visas, with consular officers directed to reduce the validity of other nonimmigrant visas. It takes effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on 1 January 2026 and applies to nationals of the designated countries who are outside the United States and hold no valid visa on the applicable effective date.¹ The nineteen countries under full suspension are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The twenty under partial suspension are Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela, continued from Proclamation 10949, and Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. For Turkmenistan the proclamation lifts the nonimmigrant suspension imposed in June and keeps the immigrant one.¹

1. The proclamation is issued under sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and 3 U.S.C. § 301. Section 212(f) authorises the President to “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens” whose entry “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”³ In Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667 (2018), the Court (Roberts, C.J., for a 5-4 majority; Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan, JJ., dissenting) held that ”§ 1182(f) exudes deference to the President in every clause” and that Proclamation 9645 was “squarely within the scope of Presidential authority under the INA.”⁴

2. The proclamation narrows the exceptions. Its categorical exceptions cover lawful permanent residents; dual nationals travelling on a non-designated passport; A-1, A-2, C-2, C-3, G-1 to G-4 and NATO-1 to NATO-6 visa holders; athletes and teams travelling for the World Cup, the Olympics or another major sporting event; Special Immigrant Visas for U.S. government employees; and immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran. These “amend and supersede” the exceptions of Proclamation 10949, which had covered immediate-relative and adoption immigrant visas and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas; the proclamation states that “immigrant visas for family members of individuals in the United States will no longer be a broad categorical exception.” Case-by-case exceptions may be made by the Attorney General, the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security. Within 180 days, and every 180 days after, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence, reports on whether the suspensions “should be continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented.”¹²

3. No visa issued before the applicable effective date is to be revoked under the proclamation, and it does not apply to people already granted asylum or refugees already admitted, nor limit anyone’s ability to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal or Convention Against Torture protection.¹ Refugee admissions are governed separately under § 207 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1157, subject to the annual Presidential Determination on refugee admissions; the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program was suspended by Executive Order 14163 of 20 January 2025.⁵⁶

Corrections

• 2026-09-24: Effect 2 listed exceptions for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, adoptions and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders. Those were Proclamation 10949’s exceptions; this proclamation replaces them and drops all three, and effect 2 now gives its own list. Effect 2 also described 90-day compliance reports by State, Homeland Security and the DNI. The proclamation sets reports within 180 days and every 180 days after, by the Secretary of State in consultation with the others, on whether to continue, end, modify or add to the suspensions.¹ The post said full suspension covered “most” nonimmigrant entry; it covers all nonimmigrant entry. It said partial suspension was limited to specified visa categories; it also suspends all immigrant entry. It said the proclamation took effect only for newly designated countries; it applies to every designated country. It now names the twenty partial-suspension countries and the proclamation’s companion authorities, and effect 3 reports the proclamation’s own visa and asylum provisions in place of an inference about § 212(a) of the INA.¹²