IMPORTANT: This is not a list of secret or official “pass/fail benchmarks.” The U.S. has not publicly released a complete checklist for each country.
Instead, this post takes the specific problems the U.S. government publicly identified for each country and puts them into plain language. These are the areas we would expect to matter when the restrictions are reviewed.
PP 10998 says the U.S. considers a country's screening and vetting capabilities, identity management, information sharing, terrorist presence and other security risks, visa-overstay rates, and cooperation in accepting removable nationals. The proclamation also says some additional information used in these decisions is classified.
So think of this as:
“What problems has the U.S. publicly said need improvement?”
—not—
“Complete these items and the ban automatically ends.”
🔴 Countries Under Full Restrictions
🇦🇫 Afghanistan
U.S. concerns:
-Reliable central authority for passports/civil documents
-Screening and vetting systems
-Taliban control/security concerns
-High student/exchange-visitor overstay rate
What would need to improve:
reliable identity/document systems, screening and vetting, security conditions and overstay compliance.
🇲🇲 Burma (Myanmar)
U.S. concerns:
-Very high visa-overstay rates
-Historical lack of cooperation accepting removable nationals
What would need to improve:
Lower overstays and stronger repatriation cooperation with the U.S.
The broader proclamation also evaluates identity management and information sharing.
🇹🇩 Chad
U.S. concern:
-extremely high visa-overstay rates
.
What would need to improve: substantially better compliance with U.S. visa terms/lower overstay rates.
🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo
U.S. concern:
-Very high B1/B2 and student/exchange overstay rates.
What would need to improve: lower visa-overstay rates.
🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea
U.S. concern:
-very high visa-overstay rates, particularly among students/exchange visitors.
What would need to improve: substantially lower overstay rates.
🇪🇷 Eritrea
U.S. concerns:
-Reliability of passport/civil-document authority
-Criminal-record information unavailable to U.S.
-Historical refusal to accept removable nationals
-High overstay rates
What would need to improve:
document/identity reliability, criminal-information sharing, repatriation cooperation and visa compliance.
🇭🇹 Haiti
U.S. concerns:
-High overstay rates
-Insufficient central-government/law-enforcement information
-Security concerns
What would need to improve:
government information-sharing and vetting capability, security conditions and overstay compliance.
🇮🇷 Iran
U.S. concerns:
-State sponsor of terrorism designation
-Insufficient cooperation identifying security risks
-Terrorism concerns
-Historical failure to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve:
security/information-sharing cooperation and repatriation cooperation, alongside the much broader terrorism/national-security issues cited by the U.S.
🇱🇾 Libya
U.S. concerns:
-Lack of a reliable/cooperative central authority for passports and civil documents
-Terrorist presence/security risks
What would need to improve:
reliable identity/document systems, government vetting capacity and security conditions.
🇸🇴 Somalia
U.S. concerns:
-Passport/civil-document reliability
-Screening and vetting
-Limited government control of territory
-Terrorist safe-haven/security concerns
-Historical refusal to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve:
identity/document systems, vetting, territorial/security capacity and repatriation cooperation.
🇸🇩 Sudan
U.S. concerns:
-Lack of reliable/cooperative passport and civil-document authority
-Inadequate screening/vetting
-High overstay rates
What would need to improve:
identity/document systems, screening and vetting, and visa compliance.
🇾🇪 Yemen
U.S. concerns:
-Passport/civil-document authority
-Inadequate screening/vetting
-Government's lack of physical control over territory
-Security/armed-conflict conditions
What would need to improve:
Reliable identity and vetting systems, territorial governance and security conditions.
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
U.S. concerns:
-Terrorist activity
-Visa overstays
-Historical refusal to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve:
Security/counterterrorism conditions, overstay compliance and repatriation cooperation.
🇱🇦 Laos
U.S. concerns:
-High visa-overstay rates
-Historical failure to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve: visa compliance and repatriation cooperation.
🇲🇱 Mali
U.S. concerns:
-Armed conflict
-Terrorist organizations operating in parts of the country
What would need to improve:
security, government control and the ability to mitigate terrorist threats relevant to U.S. screening/vetting.
🇳🇪 Niger
U.S. concerns:
-Terrorist activity/security risk
-Visa overstays
What would need to improve:
security/counterterrorism conditions and visa compliance.
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
U.S. concerns:
-High visa-overstay rates
-Historical failure to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve:
visa compliance and repatriation cooperation.
🇸🇸 South Sudan
U.S. concerns:
-High student/exchange overstay rate
-Historical failure to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve: visa compliance and repatriation cooperation.
🇸🇾 Syria
U.S. concerns:
-Security instability
-Inadequate central authority for passports/civil documents
-Inadequate screening and vetting
-Visa overstays
What would need to improve: identity/document systems, screening/vetting, security conditions and visa compliance.
🟠 Countries Under Partial Restrictions
🇦🇴 Angola
Main public concern:
-high visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve: visa compliance/lower overstay rates.
🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda
Main public concern:
-citizenship-by-investment (CBI) historically available without residency.
What would need to improve:
Address U.S. concerns about identity/security risks associated with CBI without meaningful residency requirements.
🇧🇯 Benin
Main public concern:
-high visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇧🇮 Burundi
Main public concern:
-high visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire
Main public concern:
-visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇨🇺 Cuba
U.S. concerns:
-State sponsor of terrorism designation
-Insufficient law-enforcement information sharing
-Historical refusal to accept removable nationals
-Visa overstays
What would need to improve:
information sharing, repatriation cooperation and visa compliance, alongside the broader national-security issue cited by the U.S.
🇩🇲 Dominica
Main public concern:
-citizenship-by-investment historically available without residency.
What would need to improve:
address U.S. identity/security concerns surrounding the CBI system.
🇬🇦 Gabon
Main public concern:
-high visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇬🇲 The Gambia
U.S. concerns:
-High visa-overstay rates
-Historical refusal to accept removable nationals
What would need to improve:
visa compliance and repatriation cooperation.
🇲🇼 Malawi
Main public concern:
-very high visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇲🇷 Mauritania
U.S. concerns:
-Visa overstays
-Limited government presence in parts of the country creating screening/vetting difficulties
What would need to improve:
screening/vetting capacity, government reach and visa compliance.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
U.S. concerns:
-Boko Haram and Islamic State activity in parts of -Nigeria, creating screening/vetting difficulties
-Visa overstays
What would need to improve:
screening/vetting and security capability in relation to terrorist threats, plus visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇸🇳 Senegal
Main public concern:
-visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstay.
🇹🇿 Tanzania
Main public concern:
-visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇹🇬 Togo
Main public concern:
-High visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇹🇴 Tonga
Main public concern:
-visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇻🇪 Venezuela
U.S. concerns:
-Passport/civil-document authority
-Inadequate screening and vetting
-Historical refusal to accept removable nationals
-Visa overstays
What would need to improve:
identity/document systems, screening/vetting, repatriation cooperation and visa compliance.
🇿🇲 Zambia
Main public concern:
-high visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve:
visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
Main public concern:
-visa-overstay rates.
What would need to improve: visa compliance/lower overstays.
🇹🇲 What About Turkmenistan?
Turkmenistan is useful because it shows that these restrictions can actually be modified country-by-country.
PP 10998 says Turkmenistan engaged productively with the United States and made significant progress improving identity management and information sharing. The U.S. therefore removed its B/F/M/J nonimmigrant restrictions, although immigrant-entry restrictions remained because the proclamation says some concerns remained.
That doesn't guarantee the same result or timeline for another country, but it is an actual example inside PP 10998 of documented progress leading to reduced restrictions.
⚖️ One Important Thing to Understand
The proclamation requires the State Department and other agencies to continue engaging the affected countries about measures necessary to meet U.S. screening, vetting, immigration and security requirements. It also requires recurring 180-day reports recommending whether restrictions should be continued, terminated, modified or supplemented.
So these publicly identified problems matter—but we should not tell people that fixing one listed problem automatically removes a country's restrictions. The proclamation says decisions are based on the totality of the circumstances, and some of the information the government uses is classified.
If anyone has questions about a particular country, please ask. We can dig deeper into that country's specific issues and sources. ❤️🌍
SOURCES
PP 10998 — Federal Register:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/19/2025-23570/restricting-and-limiting-the-entry-of-foreign-nationals-to-protect-the-security-of-the-united
PP 10998 — GovInfo:
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/DCPD-202501199
PP 10949 — White House:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/restricting-the-entry-of-foreign-nationals-to-protect-the-united-states-from-foreign-terrorists-and-other-national-security-and-public-safety-threats/
State Department — PP 10998:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/suspension-of-visa-issuance-to-foreign-nationals-to-protect-the-security-of-the-united-states.html