The Trump administration is reportedly considering imposing visa restrictions on Nigeria and 24 other African countries, just a week after enforcing a visa ban on seven African nations.
This was recorded in a memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and distributed to diplomats stationed in the impacted nations on Saturday, according to the Washington Post.
Amid Washington’s efforts to curb immigration to the United States, the Trump administration blamed the new ban on a lack of government transparency and a suitable database to freely check the backgrounds of travellers from these nations.
36 nations are under consideration for the additional travel prohibitions.
African nations at risk of Trump’s visa ban
Alongside Nigeria, the memo lists the following African countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, and Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Non-African countries under review include Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Dominica, Kyrgyzstan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Syria.
Reasons for visa ban
U.S. authorities cited multiple reasons for the ban, including inadequate government transparency and the absence of reliable databases to verify traveller backgrounds.
The memo indicated some countries lacked a functional central authority capable of providing trustworthy identification or civil documents. Others suffer from widespread government fraud or grant citizenship in exchange for cash without residency requirements.
Additionally, it highlighted that nationals from these countries have frequently overstayed their U.S. visas and noted instances where some individuals have allegedly committed anti-American or antisemitic acts on U.S. soil.
Conditional requirements
According to the memo, some of these worries might be allayed if nations agreed to sign a “safe third country” agreement or accept back third-country nationals who had been deported from the U.S.
Affected nations have been given 60 days to comply and were required to submit a preliminary action plan by Wednesday at 8:00 a.m.
African nations most impacted by Trump’s visa ban
Since President Trump’s second term began, African nations have borne the brunt of his administration’s travel restrictions.
The initial ban, signed earlier this year, restricted entry for citizens of 12 countries, including seven African nations. Earlier drafts suggested an even broader list of 43 countries, which did not include Nigeria.
African Union issues warning
The African Union Commission warned that the U.S. government’s travel restrictions could undermine decades of diplomatic relations.
The commission urged the U.S. to adopt “a balanced, evidence-based” approach reflective of the longstanding partnership between the two.
“The African Union Commission respectfully appeals to the United States to exercise this right in a manner that is balanced, evidence-based, and reflective of the long-standing partnership between the United States and Africa,” it said.