U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a travel restriction policy imposing a ban on citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States.
In addition to this, visitors from seven other nations will face heightened entry restrictions.
The new measures are to prevent the sudden airport disruptions witnessed during a similar 2017 ban.
In an official White House statement, Trump laid out the reasons for the new travel ban, pointing to the exploitation of the U.S. visa system by some countries.
“Many of these countries have also taken advantage of the United States in their exploitation of our visa system and their historic failure to accept back their removable nationals.
“As President, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” he stated
He also expressed openness to working with countries willing to improve security cooperation.
“I remain committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks,” he said
The proclamation is effective at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 9, 2025.
The 12 countries whose citizens are banned outright include:
Beyond the outright travel ban, citizens from seven other countries will encounter heightened visa screening and entry restrictions.
While acknowledging progress made by some countries, Trump warned that until all address their shortcomings, restrictions will remain in place.
“Some of the countries with inadequacies face significant challenges to reform efforts. Others have made important improvements to their protocols and procedures, and I commend them for these efforts.
But until countries with identified inadequacies address them, members of my Cabinet have recommended certain conditional restrictions and limitations. I have considered and largely accepted those recommendations and imposed the limitations set forth below on the entry into the United States by the classes of foreign nationals identified in sections 2 and 3 of this proclamation,” he said
This ban is a revival of Trump’s 2017 travel ban, which barred entry to citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries and faced multiple legal challenges before being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
The current ban expands the list based on updated security reviews and visa overstay data.
The current ban expands the list based on updated security reviews and visa overstay data.