Travel
Full List: Nigeria and 35 Other Countries Facing U.S. Visa Ban
U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to impose a visa ban on Nigerians and citizens from 35 additional countries, in what would mark a significant expansion of the travel restrictions announced by his administration earlier this month. According to The Washington Post, the list of affected countries is detailed in a State Department memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The memo outlines that the targeted countries, many of which are in Africa, have failed to meet U.S. standards for identity verification and civil documentation. It states that some of these nations lack a cooperative or competent central authority capable of producing reliable identity records, while others face widespread government fraud or have high numbers of citizens who overstay visas in the United States.
Governments of the listed countries have been given a 60-day deadline to comply with new benchmarks and provide an initial action plan by 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Failure to meet the requirements could result in full or partial visa bans.
Of the 36 countries named, 25 are African nations, including Nigeria, which was previously subject to a similar restriction during Trump’s first term in office. The full list includes Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The planned expansion reflects the Trump administration’s ongoing push to tighten U.S. immigration policies and reduce the number of entrants from countries with weak documentation systems or poor governance.