US travel ban countries in 2026: the full and partial lists in Proclamation 10998, and who is excepted

Proclamation 10998 (90 FR 59717, 19 December 2025), effective 1 January 2026, fully suspends entry of nationals of 19 countries plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, and partly suspends entry of nationals of 20 others. It applies only to people outside the United States without a valid visa on 1 January 2026, and it lists exceptions and national-interest waivers. Check the State Department's visa pages for how it is applied.

People call it the "travel ban". The document itself does not use that phrase. Proclamation 10998 of 16 December 2025, published in the Federal Register on 19 December 2025 (90 FR 59717), uses sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to suspend and limit the entry of certain foreign nationals, country by country. It continues and expands Proclamation 10949 of 4 June 2025, which took effect on 9 June 2025 and covered 12 countries fully and 7 partly.

This page reads the proclamation's text. It lists the countries, what "full" and "partial" mean in the text, who is outside the suspension, and when the lists are due for review. It does not say whether a given visa application will be approved or refused, and it does not tell anyone what to do. Visa decisions are made by consular officers under State Department guidance that this page does not cover; the State Department's visa pages (travel.state.gov) are the place to check the current practice. An attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative can advise on a particular case.

The lists have changed once since June 2025 and can change again by a new presidential document. No amendment to Proclamation 10998 appears among the proclamations published in the Federal Register from 1 January to 7 October 2026. A separate proclamation (11069, 91 FR 60497, 23 September 2026) restricts entry of certain nonimmigrant workers and is covered on our H-1B pages, not here. Check the Federal Register and the State Department before you rely on this page.

The structure: four sections, two kinds of restriction

The operative sections are 2 to 5.

Section 2 continues the *full* suspension for 12 countries named in Proclamation 10949.
Section 3 continues the *partial* suspension for four countries named in Proclamation 10949.
Section 4 adds *full* suspensions for seven more countries and for one kind of document.
Section 5 adds *partial* suspensions for 15 more countries and modifies the one for Turkmenistan.

All of them are "subject to the categorical exceptions and case-by-case waivers described in section 6". Section 1 says the restrictions "distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants."

What "full" means. The entry of nationals of the country "as immigrants and as nonimmigrants" is suspended. That covers all immigrant visas and all nonimmigrant categories, apart from the exceptions in section 6(b).

What "partial" means. For the partial list, the text says entry "as immigrants, and as nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas, is hereby suspended", and that "Consular officers shall reduce the validity for any other nonimmigrant visa issued to nationals of" the country "to the extent permitted by law." The proclamation's own country findings describe these as business/tourist (B-1/B-2), student (F), vocational (M) and exchange visitor (J) visas. The text names only those categories for suspension on the partial list, and says the validity of other nonimmigrant visas is to be reduced.

Why each country is listed. Sections 4 and 5 give a short finding for each country. They cite State Department assessments, DHS overstay-rate figures, and, for Antigua and Barbuda and for Dominica, that each "has historically had CBI without residency" (citizenship by investment). The proclamation says the overstay rate "was just one of the factors considered", and that "the determinations in this proclamation are based on the totality of the circumstances with respect to each country". It also says that "Publicly disclosing additional details" it relied on "would cause serious damage to the national security of the United States, and many such details are classified."

The full-suspension list: 19 countries and one document

Continued from Proclamation 10949 (section 2), 12 countries: Afghanistan; Burma; Chad; the Republic of the Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Haiti; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; Yemen.

New full suspensions (section 4), seven countries: Burkina Faso; Laos; Mali; Niger; Sierra Leone; South Sudan; Syria. Laos and Sierra Leone had been on the *partial* list in Proclamation 10949 (section 3). They moved to the full list.

Palestinian Authority documents (section 4(h)). The entry of "foreign nationals who seek to travel on any travel documents issued or endorsed by the PA, as immigrants and nonimmigrants, is hereby fully suspended." The restriction attaches to the *document*, not to a nationality.

Several countries on this list, for example Haiti, Burma, Syria and Yemen, also appear on our page about TPS in 2026. The two work under different laws: entry suspensions under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and TPS under section 244. By its terms the proclamation applies to people outside the United States (section 6(a)); TPS is a status for people already inside.

The partial-suspension list: 20 countries

Continued from Proclamation 10949 (section 3), four countries: Burundi; Cuba; Togo; Venezuela. Proclamation 10949 states the operative text for each: entry "as immigrants, and as nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas" is suspended, and validity of other nonimmigrant visas is to be reduced.

New partial suspensions (section 5), 15 countries: Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Benin; Côte d'Ivoire; Dominica; Gabon; The Gambia; Malawi; Mauritania; Nigeria; Senegal; Tanzania; Tonga; Zambia; Zimbabwe. Each one carries the same operative text: immigrants and B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J nonimmigrants are suspended, and the validity of other nonimmigrant visas is to be reduced.

Turkmenistan (section 5(n)) is modified. The text says that Turkmenistan "has engaged productively with the United States and demonstrated significant progress in improving its identity-management and information-sharing procedures." It lifts the suspension for nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J visas. But "Because some concerns remain, the entry into the United States of nationals of Turkmenistan as immigrants remains suspended." So Turkmenistan now has an *immigrant-only* suspension.

On the partial lists, as on the full lists, immigrant entry is suspended without reference to the immigrant visa category, unless an exception in section 6 applies.

Who is outside the suspension: scope and exceptions

Scope: only people outside the United States without a valid visa. Section 6(a) says that the suspensions "shall apply only to foreign nationals of the designated countries who: (i) are outside the United States on the applicable effective date of this proclamation; and (ii) do not have a valid visa on the applicable effective date of this proclamation." Section 10 sets the effective date of Proclamation 10998 as "12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on January 1, 2026", and Proclamation 10949 took effect on 9 June 2025. The text says "applicable effective date", which for a country continued from Proclamation 10949 may refer to either date; a representative can say which applies to a given person. Section 8(c) adds: "No immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the applicable effective date of this proclamation shall be revoked pursuant to this proclamation."

Categorical exceptions (section 6(b)). The suspensions do not apply to:

"any lawful permanent resident of the United States";
"any dual national of a country designated" when traveling on a passport from a country that is not designated;
people traveling on valid nonimmigrant visas in the A-1, A-2, C-2, C-3, G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4 and NATO-1 to NATO-6 classifications;
athletes and team members, with coaches, support staff and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State;
Special Immigrant Visas for United States Government employees under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D); and
"immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran".

What changed from Proclamation 10949. Section 6(c) says the new exceptions "amend and supersede" those in section 4(b) of Proclamation 10949 for the countries in its sections 2 and 3. The earlier list had also excepted immediate-relative family immigrant visas (IR-1/CR-1, IR-2/CR-2, IR-5) with "clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship (e.g., DNA)", adoption visas (IR-3, IR-4, IH-3, IH-4), and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas. Those are not on the new list. The proclamation's own explanation is: "immigrant visas for family members of individuals in the United States will no longer be a broad categorical exception." What this means for a particular family case is a legal question.

Asylum and refugees. Section 8(d): "This proclamation shall not apply to an individual who has been granted asylum by the United States or to a refugee who has already been admitted to the United States. Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture, consistent with the laws of the United States."

Case-by-case waivers (sections 6(d) to 6(f)). Three officials can allow exceptions "on a case-by-case basis". The Attorney General can do so where travel "would advance a critical United States national interest involving the Department of Justice, including when individuals must be present to participate in criminal proceedings as witnesses." The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security can each do so where travel "would serve a United States national interest." The proclamation does not describe an application process. How a person asks, if at all, is a matter of State Department and DHS practice, which this page does not cover.

Reviews, litigation and how to keep this current

Review cycle. Section 7(a) requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence, to submit a report to the President within "180 days of the date of this proclamation, and every 180 days thereafter", recommending whether suspensions "should be continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented". The proclamation is dated 16 December 2025, so the first report fell due in mid-June 2026 and the next is due in mid-December 2026. The reports are submitted to the President and are not published with the proclamation; changes to the lists appear when a new proclamation is published in the Federal Register. The proclamation also directs the State Department to continue engaging the listed countries on "measures that must be taken to comply with screening, vetting, immigration, and security requirements" (section 7(b)).

Courts. The proclamation's severability clause (section 9) says that if a provision "is held to be invalid", the rest is not affected. The proclamation's preamble notes of the first administration's restrictions that "The Supreme Court upheld these restrictions." A court order can change how a rule operates for particular people without changing the proclamation's text. This page does not report court orders, and a representative checks the current position.

No right is created. Section 11(c): the proclamation "is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by law or in equity by any party against the United States".

What this page does not cover. The proclamation deals with entry. It does not by itself address benefit applications pending inside the United States, the processing of petitions filed by US sponsors, or how consulates schedule interviews. Those are covered by State Department and USCIS guidance, which changes. For consular matters see travel.state.gov. For benefit matters see uscis.gov. If you are unsure which applies, an attorney or accredited representative can check.

Refreshing. Before relying on any country listing, read the Federal Register text of Proclamation 10998 and search the Federal Register for any later proclamation on "Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals".

Scams, legal help, and what a representative does

Only an attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative can give legal advice on immigration matters (8 CFR 292.1, 1292.1). See our pages on notarios and immigration lawyers, immigration scams and free immigration legal help. USCIS's "Find Legal Services" page lists who may represent a person, and EOIR publishes a List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers each quarter.

Work on a case touched by the proclamation typically involves:

confirming the person's nationality, any second nationality, and the passport they would travel on;
confirming whether they held a valid visa on the applicable effective date, and what type;
checking the visa category against the exceptions in section 6(b);
identifying whether any national-interest exception has been requested or granted, and through which agency;
reading the current State Department guidance for the consulate involved; and
tracking the next review date and any new proclamation.

That list describes the work. It does not predict what a consulate will do.

For people already in the United States, see our pages on TPS and the H-1B restrictions.

Finding a licensed attorney or accredited representative

Migratio's directory lists immigration attorneys and DOJ-accredited representatives. Listings are shown in a neutral order with factual filters (state, language, attorney or accredited representative). Migratio does not recommend, rank or match any lawyer, and it is not a lawyer referral service. Check any listing yourself against the state bar or the EOIR roster before you sign anything.

See attorneys and accredited representatives in the directory.

Notaries public, notarios and immigration consultants are not lawyers and cannot give immigration legal advice. Only a licensed attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative can.

Migratio is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Only a licensed attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative can advise you.

Questions people ask

Which countries are on the US travel ban list in 2026?

Full suspension: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Syria, plus Palestinian Authority travel documents. Partial: Burundi, Cuba, Togo, Venezuela, Turkmenistan (immigrants only), Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Proclamation 10998, sections 2 to 5).

When did the current travel ban start?

Proclamation 10998 is effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on 1 January 2026 (section 10). It continues Proclamation 10949, which took effect on 9 June 2025.

What is the difference between full and partial suspension?

Full: entry as immigrants and nonimmigrants is suspended. Partial: entry as immigrants and as B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J nonimmigrants is suspended, and the validity of other nonimmigrant visas is to be reduced. Both are subject to the exceptions in section 6.

Does the ban apply to people who already have a visa?

The suspensions apply only to foreign nationals who were outside the United States and did not have a valid visa on the applicable effective date (section 6(a)), and visas issued before that date are not revoked under the proclamation (section 8(c)). How an existing visa is treated at the border is a matter for an attorney or the State Department.

Are green card holders affected?

The suspensions do not apply to "any lawful permanent resident of the United States" (section 6(b)(i)). Dual nationals traveling on a passport from a country that is not designated are also excepted.

Can I get an exception?

The proclamation lets the Attorney General, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security make case-by-case exceptions where travel would serve a US national interest (section 6(d)-(f)). It does not set out an application process. Ask an attorney or accredited representative how it works in practice.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-10.

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