Due to the concerns of immigration vetting and misuse of travel visas, the Trump Administration has established the enlargement of the Travel Visa Ban during President Trump’s first term. The National Visa Ban has been put into effect since the first of January 2026 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time. This National Visa Ban puts restrictions and complete bans on the traveling visas below.

Immigration Visa v. Non-Immigration Visas:

For traveling purposes there are two types of visas. An immigrant visa is a traveling visa for nationals who are planning to stay in the U.S permanently. This contrasts to a non-immigrant visa which is for nationals who visiting the U.S for recreational, business, or medical purposes.

The expansion of the National Travel Visa ban has caused it to affect up to 20 new countries in order to “suspend the entry” of citizens from a total of 38 countries. Individuals who use documents endorsed by the Palestinian Authority, in order to apply for an American visa are also included in this Travel Ban. 

His official Presidential Proclamation of 10998 explains that “we are protecting our nation and its citizens by using rigorous security-focused screening and vetting procedures to ensure that individuals approved for a visa do not endanger national security or public safety.”

The Trump Administration has also included a new elimination of past visa applicant exceptions in the Travel Visa Ban. People who identified by these three restrictions listed below are no longer eligible to apply for non-immigrant and immigrant visas to the U.S.

-Those with Immediate relatives of the U.S citizens 

-Those who have children adopted abroad

-Those who are Afghan nationals seeking Special Immigrant Visas for their work assisting U.S armed forces 

The Travel Visa Ban, indirectly affects the citizens of the United States who have family members and friends from foreign countries, including countries who are not directly targeted by the National Travel Visa Ban. Although the Travel Ban was officially put into effect on the 1st of January, upcoming policy restrictions had already begun to cause problems for U.S. citizens of immigrant descent.

“It separates families,” explains Ana Alvarez, who is the Family Liaison for Centreville high school. She originates from Mexico and has a family in the United States, but also has siblings who currently live in the country of Mexico. Mrs. Alvarez wants her Mexican siblings to come to America, so her children can bond with their other family members, but due to the Travel Visa Ban restrictions, this task can prove very difficult.

There are two levels of restrictions in the Travel Visa Ban. The first level only restricts certain nationals from visiting the U.S. The second level of restriction completely bans certain nationals from traveling to the U.S.

The chart below displays the list of countries that are  affected by these two categories: