The Trump administration is weighing new travel restrictions that could impact 25 African countries, in what could become one of the most expansive visa crackdowns targeting the continent.
A leaked internal memo, reviewed and first reported by The Washington Post, lists dozens of nations, most of them in Africa, that may soon face visa bans or other entry limitations unless they comply with new U.S. vetting requirements.
Among the African countries named are regional powerhouses and key U.S. partners such as Egypt, Nigeria, Djibouti, Ghana, and Ethiopia. Others include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
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The internal memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent to American diplomats on Saturday, grants these countries a 60-day window to meet newly established conditions by the U.S. State Department.
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According to the memo, several of the targeted countries either lack “a competent or cooperative central government authority” capable of verifying identity documents or have high numbers of citizens who overstay visas or violate immigration terms. However, the document notes that countries agreeing to accept third-country nationals deported from the U.S. may be offered leeway on other benchmarks.
The directive isn’t limited to Africa. Also facing potential restrictions are several Caribbean nations, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia, along with four countries in Asia (Bhutan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, and Syria), and three in Oceania (Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu).
By 8 a.m. Wednesday, governments on the list are expected to submit an initial action plan outlining how they intend to meet the U.S. requirements.
While it remains uncertain whether the restrictions will be enforced after the deadline, Independent reported that a spokesperson for the State Department declined to comment on internal deliberations. “The department is always reevaluating policies to ensure Americans are safe and foreign nationals abide by the law,” the spokesperson said.
The memo surfaces just a week after President Donald Trump reinstated his controversial first-term travel ban, now rebranded and expanded to cover 12 countries with full entry bans and seven others under restricted access.
In January, Trump signed an executive order mandating the State Department to flag nations that lack adequate “vetting and screening information” for potential suspension from U.S. entry. These moves form part of what Trump describes as the “largest mass deportation operation” in U.S. history, which also involves canceling humanitarian protections and revoking visas for tens of thousands of immigrants.
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