President Donald J. Trump has sharply widened Americas travel restrictions with a new executive order signed December 16, 2025, slapping full entry bans on nationals from five additional countries and partial visa limits on fifteen more, pushing the total affected nations to about 39. Set to kick in January 1, 2026, the policy zeroes in on places with shaky vetting systems, rampant visa overstays, and reluctance to take back their own deportees—echoing Trumps earlier June 2025 restrictions but on steroids.​

This latest push comes hot on the heels of a tragic November 2025 shooting in Washington, D.C., where an Afghan asylum seeker gunned down a National Guard member, exposing what the White House calls glaring holes in screening processes. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem laid it out bluntly: these high-risk countries arent playing ball on security intel or deportations, fueling Trumps long-standing drive for ironclad borders straight from his campaign playbook. Rights groups are firing back, slamming the ban as a blanket that snags genuine refugees from war-torn spots like Syria, potentially souring U.S. relations with African allies.​

On the full-ban front, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria join the no-fly list for immigrants and most nonimmigrants—think no tourist visas or student passes unless youre a green card holder or have U.S. family ties. Laos and Sierra Leone got bumped up from partial to total shutdowns, while folks with Palestinian Authority passports are out entirely due to vetting nightmares tied to Gaza chaos. These hotspots are riddled with jihadist insurgencies, military coups, and endless strife, according to administration reports.​

Partial curbs land on another fifteen: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte dIvoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. That means no immigrant visas, tourists, or certain business entries from there, though diplomats and key workers might squeak through. Nigeria jumps out as a big one—the U.S. hands out over 10,000 visas to them yearly, so this could yank the rug from under students and family reunions alike.​

The ripple effects look messy: families split apart, U.S. firms scrambling for talent, and fragile economies losing billions in remittances and tourism bucks. Trump dangled a carrot, though—countries that beef up their vetting could get scrubbed from the list down the road. With lawsuits probably brewing, travelers from these spots should check their status pronto and brace for changes.

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