President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, that extends travel restrictions to 20 more countries, bringing the total number of nations under full or partial U.S. travel bans to more than 35.
The revised policy, which takes effect on January 1, 2026, fully blocks travel for individuals from five additional countries — Syria, South Sudan, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso — as well as people with documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. The move comes just weeks after Trump vowed to tighten immigration policies following the arrest of an Afghan national charged with shooting two National Guard troops near the White House last month.
According to the New York Times, the White House justified the expansion by citing national security concerns, counterterrorism objectives, and insufficient information from foreign governments about potential travelers. Critics, however, have characterized the policy as discriminatory, particularly against nations in Africa and the Middle East, where the majority of the restricted countries are located.
Expanded Travel Ban Details
The new proclamation continues full restrictions on the original 12 high-risk countries established under Proclamation 10949: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Beyond adding the five fully restricted countries and Palestinian Authority documents, the policy also imposes complete travel restrictions on Laos and Sierra Leone, which were previously subject only to partial restrictions.
Additionally, partial travel restrictions have been applied to 15 more countries, predominantly African nations: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The ban includes various exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, athletes, and diplomats, but it also narrows family-based immigrant visa exemptions that the administration claims carry “demonstrated fraud risks.”
The White House detailed specific justifications for including each country in the expanded ban. For countries like Syria, officials cited “protracted periods of civil unrest” and a lack of “adequate central authority for issuing passports or civil documents.” For Palestinian Authority documents, the administration pointed to “several U.S.-designated terrorist groups” operating in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and the recent war’s impact on vetting capabilities. In the case of African nations such as Burkina Faso, Angola, and Zambia, the administration cited high visa-overstay rates from the Department of Homeland Security’s Fiscal Year 2024 Entry/Exit Overstay Report.
