Trump Administration considers new US travel restrictions affecting 43 countries

US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering new travel restrictions that will affect millions of citizens from dozens of countries. Photo / Getty Images

United States President Donald Trump’s Administration is mulling a new travel ban that would affect citizens from dozens of countries to varying degrees, the New York Times reported at the weekend.

Citing anonymous officials, it said the draft list featured 43 countries, divided into three categories of travel restrictions.

The red category of countries whose citizens would be completely barred from entering the US includes Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

A further 10 countries in the orange category - Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan - would have visas sharply restricted.

“In those cases, affluent business travellers might be allowed to enter, but not people travelling on immigrant or tourist visas,” the New York Times said.

Citizens from countries on the orange list would also have to undergo in-person interviews to receive a visa.

Another 22 countries on a yellow list would have 60 days to address US concerns or risk being moved up to one of the more stringent categories.

“The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations, cautioned that the list had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by the time it reached the White House,” the New York Times said.

As one of his first acts in office, Trump froze America’s refugee admission programme and almost all foreign aid.

Trump ordered the US Government to identify countries whose nationals should be banned from entering on security grounds, a move akin to the so-called “Muslim ban” of his first term.

That ban - which in 2017 targeted citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen - ignited international outrage and resulted in domestic court rulings against it.

Iraq and Sudan were dropped from the list, but in 2018 the Supreme Court upheld a later version of the ban for the other nations - as well as North Korea and Venezuela.

- Agence France-Presse