The Trump administration has built on its December 2025 travel-ban, suspending the processing of immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries. Here’s how you may be impacted.
According to the American Immigration Council, the newly imposed visa 'freezing' means that roughly one in five people who had hopes of immigrating to the United States are no longer able to do so.
Moreover, thousands of travellers who were seeking nonimmigrant visas to visit or reside temporarily will now be barred from doing so.
New countries affected by January’s ‘immigration visa pause’
During an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday (14 January), it was announced that immigration visa processing would be paused for ‘migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates’.
The list of countries now banned from entering the States includes: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Cuba.
Advert
Citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have also had visa applications frozen, along with those from Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Kyrgyzstan.
Immigrants from Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, and the Republic of the Congo are also on the list.
It concludes with Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
How will the visa ban affect you?
It’s understood that visa suspension, which will be put in place from 21 January, will only affect foreign citizens seeking to immigrate to the states.
This will impact anyone seeing a visa via sponsorship by a US citizen, an immediate relative who is lawfully and permanently residing in the US, or prospective employers.
It's important to note that it does not apply to nationals from the list of countries who are seeking non-immigrant visas, or temporary tourist or business visas.
ITV reports that a number of countries on the suspension list have qualified to participate in the upcoming 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
It’s understood most people travelling to the United States to support their team or conduct work related to the tournament will not face any issues as they will be requesting either temporary tourist or business visas.
However, football supporters from Haiti and Iran will not be able to attend matches held in the US due to fully imposed bans which were introduced in December.
Ivory Coast and Senegal also have partial travel restrictions in place.
Players from Albania, Algeria, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, and Uruguay will need a B-1 visa to participate in the tournament.
They will also need to provide the income of the team and salary of the players accrued in a foreign country, as per the US embassy website.
The pause doesn't apply to apply to non-immigrant, temporary, tourist, or business visas, or dual nationals who are applying using a valid passport from a country that's not included in the suspension.
Topics: US News, Donald Trump, Travel, Politics
Ella Scott