Travel Ban Proclamation Effective January 1, 2026

On December 16, 2025, President Trump issued another "travel ban" proclamation:

Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States – The White House. This proclamation is effective on January 1, 2026 (at 12:01 a.m. EST) and adds more countries to the list. As of the effective date, the expanded list of fully travel banned countries is as follows (with newly added countries in bold):

• Afghanistan

• Burma

• Burkina Faso

• Chad

• Republic of the Congo

• Equatorial Guinea

• Eritrea

• Haiti

• Iran

• Laos

• Libya

• Mali

• Niger

• Sierra Leone

• Somalia

• South Sudan

• Sudan

• Syria

• Yemen

• & any foreign national travelling on Palestinian Authority issued documents.

Some countries are subject to a partial travel ban (against admission as immigrants, B-1 B‑2 visitor visas, or F, M, and J student/exchange visitor visas). As of the effective date, the expanded list of partially travel banned countries is as follows (with newly added countries in bold):

• Angola

• Antigua and Barbuda

• Benin

• Burundi

• Cote d’Ivoire

• Cuba

• Dominica

• Gabon

• The Gambia

• Malawi

• Mauritania

• Nigeria

• Senegal

• Tanzania

• Togo

• Tonga

• Venezuela

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

As of the effective date, one country previously subject to a full travel ban will be subject to a ban against immigrant admission only:

• Turkmenistan

The proclamation includes exceptions for dual nationals, lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders even if outside the U.S. as of the effective date, certain visa categories like athletes and diplomats, and individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests, but removes exceptions for immediate family immigrant visas, adoptions, and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas. Similar to the prior proclamation issued June 4, 2025, the proclamation provides for review and revision every 180 days.

It is unclear whether the two recent USCIS policy memoranda treating birth or nationality in a travel banned country as a negative discretionary factor, and implementing a hold on their pending applications and re-reviewing their adjudicated applications, will apply to this expanded foreign national population.