The June 2025 travel ban covered 19 countries. Its replacement, Proclamation 10998, signed December 16 and published at 90 FR 59717, covers 39 plus anyone traveling on a document issued by the Palestinian Authority. It took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern on January 1, 2026, under the same entry-suspension authority in INA 212(f) that has underwritten every version since 2017.
The headline number is the smaller change. The larger one is what was cut from the exceptions list.
The two tiers
Full suspension, 19 countries. Both immigrant and nonimmigrant entry suspended: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Seven are new to full suspension: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Syria.
Partial suspension, 20 countries. Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe. For these, immigrant entry is suspended along with the visitor, student and exchange categories (B, F, M and J), and consular officers are told to shorten the validity of any other nonimmigrant visa they do issue.
Who is covered
Only people who, at the effective moment, were both outside the United States and without a valid visa. A visa issued before January 1 stands and will not be revoked under the proclamation. A person inside the United States is not covered, which is why the first practical rule is not to leave.
Who is exempt
Lawful permanent residents. Dual nationals traveling on the passport of a non-designated country. Diplomats and international organization staff on A, C, G and NATO visas. Athletes, coaches, support staff and their immediate families traveling for the World Cup, the Olympics or another major event the Secretary of State designates. Special Immigrant Visa holders who worked for the United States government. Iranian religious and ethnic minorities facing persecution. And, case by case, anyone granted a national interest exception by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General.
What disappeared
Three categorical exceptions that existed under the June proclamation are gone:
- Immediate relative immigrant visas for the spouses, minor children and parents of United States citizens (the IR-1, CR-1, IR-2, CR-2 and IR-5 categories).
- Adoption visas (IR-3, IR-4, IH-3, IH-4).
- Afghan Special Immigrant Visas for those who worked with American forces.
The State Department's guidance to adoptive families is to keep filing, keep interviewing, and request a national interest exception. That is the only route left for a citizen's spouse or parent from a listed country as well. Exceptions are individual, discretionary and slow.
The USCIS hold
On January 1, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0194, the third in a series that began with the December 2 asylum hold. It directs officers to hold every pending benefit application filed by a person covered by the new proclamation, by nationality, birth or citizenship-by-investment, regardless of when they entered the country, and to re-review approvals granted since January 20, 2021. The memo states in terms that family-based immigrant visa applications are no longer broadly exempt.
The carve-outs are narrow: green card replacement (I-90), replacement of naturalization documents (N-565), citizenship certificates (N-600, except for Yemen and Somalia), initial work permits for pending asylum applicants, sporting-event cases, and national interest cases.
For a Nigerian or Venezuelan national inside the United States with a pending green card application, the ban itself does not apply. The hold does. The practical effect is the same: nothing moves.
What to do
- If you are inside the United States, stay. The proclamation reaches people who are outside without a valid visa. Leaving converts you into one.
- A visa in hand is a visa. Issued before January 1, it remains valid and is not subject to revocation under this proclamation. Travel on it before it expires.
- Pursue the national interest exception for adoptions, immediate relatives and other compelling cases, through the consular post. Document the hardship thoroughly.
- Expect pending USCIS filings to sit. Keep your address current and your file complete, and do not assume silence means denial.
Neither the proclamation nor the hold had been blocked by any court as of this writing. The first version of this policy took eighteen months and a Supreme Court decision to settle. The current version is broader, its exceptions fewer, and its litigation only beginning.