Trump’s travel ban: All possibly banned countries, listed

A proposed travel ban by the Trump administration aims to create a three-tiered system of entry restrictions for citizens from 43 countries trying to enter the United States. This started with President Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025. The government claims that this is to strengthen national security by tackling perceived weaknesses in the vetting and screening processes in these countries.

The ban has not been finalized yet, meaning that the list of countries and the specific restrictions might change before it begins to take effect. However, it is very interesting to see just how many have been added and what the tiers mean to the diplomatic relations between the U.S. and those countries.

All countries that could be on travel ban list

The proposed system, published by travelandtourworld, divides countries into three categories: “red,” “orange,” and “yellow,” each indicating a different level of travel restrictions. The “red” list consists of countries facing a complete travel ban, identified as having major gaps in their vetting and screening processes that pose a national security risk. 11 countries are currently included in the draft “red” list. This means that citizens from these countries would be fully barred from entering the U.S. The countries are:

• Afghanistan
• Bhutan
• Cuba
• Iran
• Libya
• North Korea
• Somalia, Sudan
• Syria
• Venezuela
• Yemen

The “orange” list includes 10 countries that will face limited travel restrictions. While citizens from these nations are not completely banned, they would undergo stricter vetting processes. This could involve mandatory in-person interviews to obtain a U.S. visa. So coming to the United States to work from these countries would be notably harder. The countries on this list are:

• Belarus
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Laos
• Myanmar
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Sierra Leone
• South Sudan
• Turkmenistan

The degree of restriction above may differ from person to person. Based on Trump’s “gold card,” which removes the restrictions on immigrating to the U.S., things may be different for the rich. It is very likely that wealthy business travelers could receive exemptions for a fee, similar to the immigration “gold card.”

Finally, the “yellow” list has 22 countries, mostly from Africa. These nations have a 60-day period to address concerns about their vetting and screening processes. They could be moved to the “red” or “orange” lists if they fail to meet the administration’s standards within this timeframe. The countries currently categorized as “yellow” are:

• Angola
• Antigua
• Barbuda
• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Cambodia
• Cameroon
• Cape Verde
• Chad
• Republic of Congo
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Dominica
• Equatorial Guinea
• Gambia
• Liberia
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritania
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• St. Lucia
• São Tomé and Príncipe
• Vanuatu
• Zimbabwe.

This proposed travel ban echoes President Trump’s broader policies on immigration enforcement. His executive order from Jan. 20 requires stricter security checks for all foreign applicants to identify possible national security threats, including those associated with terrorism, hate groups, or criminal activities.

This initiative follows a similar travel ban from his first term, which was more limited. That earlier ban focused on several majority-Muslim countries and was eventually overturned by the Biden administration when it took office in 2021, as Biden cited the need to uphold American traditions of welcoming diverse backgrounds.

The new proposal aims to undo that and maybe start a new tradition of not welcoming diverse backgrounds. The final details of the travel ban and when it will be implemented are still being decided, and the New York Times reports that the State Department had created the list a while back, and it was likely to change by the time it got to the White House.