By Gonzalez Olivieri, on Immigration Updates
President Donald Trump's June 2025 proclamation imposes comprehensive immigration restrictions on nationals of 19 countries deemed to pose national security and public safety threats. Twelve countries face complete entry suspensions for both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The proclamation cites multiple justifications for these full suspensions, including active terrorist presence within national territories, severely deficient visa screening and vetting procedures, inability or unwillingness to issue secure identity documents, high visa overstay rates, and refusal to cooperate in accepting back removable nationals.
Seven additional countries receive partial restrictions limiting entry for specific visa categories. These countries—Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela—maintain bans on immigrant visas and certain nonimmigrant categories (B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas), while consular officers must reduce validity periods for other nonimmigrant visas. These partial restrictions similarly address concerns over visa overstay rates, inadequate screening capabilities, insufficient cooperation on document security, and historical failures to accept back removable nationals.
The proclamation provides limited humanitarian exceptions for lawful permanent residents, dual nationals, immediate family members, adoptees, and those serving critical national interests. Following a November 2025 shooting incident by an Afghan national, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued supplemental guidance effective November 27, 2025, that authorizes immigration officers to apply country-specific factors as significant negative considerations when processing all immigration requests from nationals of the 19 restricted countries. This enhanced vetting applies to all pending or newly filed applications, further strengthening implementation of the proclamation and requiring assessment of factors such as identity document security and country-specific risk profiles when evaluating discretionary immigration benefits.
For more information on this, and other immigration matters, contact the attorneys at Gonzalez Olivieri LLC today.
Reference:
Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats, 90 Fed. Reg. (June 9, 2025).
