Travel ban 2026: which 39 countries are covered and what happens to your US visa

Proclamation 10998 limits new US visas for nationals of 39 countries but revokes none already issued. What that means for your passport, your family and an L-1 transfer.

In detail

The travel ban in 2026 is Proclamation 10998, in force since January 1, 2026: nationals of 39 countries face limits on new US visas. Nineteen countries are under a full suspension, which also stops L-1 transfers. Another 19 are under a partial one, which keeps L-1 open with a shorter visa. Turkmenistan loses only immigrant visas, the green card route from abroad. A visa that was valid on January 1, 2026 is not revoked by the proclamation. We read the official text and checked for amendments on November 5, 2026: the country lists have not changed.

The test is your nationality and the passport you travel on, not where you live. An engineer in Germany on a Sudanese passport is covered, and a move to a third-country office changes nothing.

Travel ban list: the 39 countries and what each group loses

Travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority fall under the full suspension too. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not on the list, but a separate health order below follows travel there.

What happens to a visa you already hold

A visa valid on January 1, 2026 stays usable until it expires. Section 6(a) reaches only people who were outside the United States on January 1, 2026 and had no valid visa on that date, so being in the US that day or holding a valid visa, even abroad, keeps you out of the suspension. Section 8(c) adds that no visa issued before that date is revoked under the proclamation.

That protection has three limits:

• It covers this proclamation only. A visa can still be cancelled on other grounds, as our piece on US visa revocations shows.
• A visa is not entry. The officer at the border decides whether you come in.
• Expiry is unsettled. Read literally, section 6(a) keeps you outside the suspension for good, because both tests look at January 1, 2026, not the day you reapply. Official guidance says holders of valid visas that day "are not subject" to the proclamation but is silent on a new application, and a consular officer decides.

The arrival record (form I-94) and the petition set how long you may stay. Someone inside the US with an expired visa and a valid stay is there lawfully. Flying out for a new visa swaps that certainty for an untested application.

L-1 transfers: the passport decides, not the employer

L-1 is the visa for moving senior staff and specialists from a foreign office to a related US company. The company files a petition with USCIS, and the employee then applies for the visa at a consulate. The proclamation works at that second step, so an approved petition does not open a suspended visa.

According to official data, a Nigerian passport gets an L-1 visa good for one entry and three months. The stay still follows the petition: up to one year for a new office and three years otherwise, extendable to seven years for senior staff and five for specialists. Every trip home means a new consular application.

USCIS put applications from listed nationals on hold in December 2025 and January 2026. Federal courts threw the hold out in June and August 2026, and USCIS says it follows those orders pending further review. Yet on August 14 an appeals court let the agency resume re-reviewing benefits already approved for those nationals who entered on or after January 20, 2021, so an earlier approval can still be reopened.

A green card application filed inside the US is a separate route: the proclamation governs entry, not that filing. But a USCIS memo of May 21, 2026, now challenged in court, calls approval extraordinary and discretionary and warns that lawful status in a category such as L-1 is not enough on its own.

Who is exempt, and who lost the exemption

Section 6(b) protects six groups:

• green card holders;
• dual nationals traveling on a passport off the list;
• holders of valid diplomatic and international organization visas (A-1, A-2, C-2, C-3, G-1 to G-4, NATO-1 to NATO-6);
• athletes, coaches, support staff and immediate relatives traveling for the World Cup, the Olympics or another major sporting event named by the Secretary of State;
• special immigrant visas for US government employees;
• immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran.

Beyond those, three cabinet officials can each grant a case-by-case exception in the national interest, and nobody has a right to one. People granted asylum and refugees already admitted stay outside the proclamation, and the right to seek asylum is untouched.

The December text removed what the June 2025 proclamation protected: spouses, children and parents of US citizens (visa classes IR-1/CR-1, IR-2/CR-2, IR-5), adoption visas (IR-3, IR-4, IH-3, IH-4) and Afghan special immigrant visas. Children being adopted by Americans can still qualify for an exception. Official guidance lets affected families apply and book an interview but warns they may be ineligible for the visa or admission.

Can a second passport change the answer?

On the text, it can: section 6(b)(ii) exempts dual nationals traveling on a passport off the list.

The proclamation names Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica for having granted citizenship by investment with no residence requirement, and both are on its partial list, so those passports solve nothing. Grenada stays off the proclamation, but according to official data it has required B-1/B-2 visa bonds since April 2, 2026. St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia are on neither list. Some programs also turn away certain nationalities, as our Grenada citizenship page explains.

The preamble describes this scenario: a foreigner from a restricted country buys a second citizenship and applies for a US visa on that passport, "thus evading the travel restrictions". A second passport bought only for a US visa is a weak plan, and we do not build one around that goal. It earns its cost within a wider decision on residence, travel and family: second passport programs by cost is where that comparison starts.

Five measures that are not this one

How fast the list can move

Section 7 orders a report within 180 days of signing and every 180 days after that, on whether to keep, end, change or add to each limit. By that count the second falls due in December 2026. None has been made public, so the first sign of a change will be a new text.

The June 2025 proclamation took effect five days after signing, the December one 16 days after. Between them the list grew from 19 countries to 39, while Turkmenistan got its business, tourist and student visas back. A passport off the list today gives no promise for a plan that takes a year.

Before you book a flight or pay for a filing

You can work through this alone: the proclamation is public and its sections are short. It is safer with professionals, because the answer turns on passport, visa class, dates and family, and some mistakes cannot be reversed. Our process is clear and transparent: we test every family passport and visa date against sections 6 and 8, plan the L-1 filing or extension with your employer, and compare other countries when the US is shut. The cost is available on request from a manager.

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