State Department blocks 162,000 visas through Executive Order 14161

Executive Order 14161 signed Jan. 20, 2025, directed enhanced vetting and screening for all foreign nationals, requiring State Department, DOJ, DHS, and DNI to identify countries with deficient information-sharing warranting entry restrictions within 60 days.

Presidential Proclamation effective Jun. 9, 2025, established full travel bans on 12 countries (Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen) and partial restrictions on 7 others (Burundi, Cuba, Iraq, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela).

The expanded restrictions affect 162,000 annual visa applications—68,557 from countries under full bans and 93,430 from partial ban countries—separating American families and devastating international business, academic, and cultural exchange programs.

Internal State Department memo revealed plans to potentially add 36 more countries, primarily in Africa, to the travel ban list if they fail to meet U.S. vetting requirements within 60 days, with deportation cooperation now determining visa access.

Enhanced vetting procedures create de facto entry bans through bureaucratic delays, requiring extensive documentation most applicants cannot provide while appearing procedural rather than explicitly discriminatory to avoid legal challenges.

The policy expands beyond Trump's first-term focus on Muslim-majority countries to include new justifications like visa overstay rates (15.35% for Burundi B1/B2 visas) and recalcitrant country status for those refusing to accept deportees.

Countries like Somalia and Afghanistan face restrictions due to lack of "competent or cooperative central authority" for passport issuance, while others like Cuba face bans as state sponsors of terrorism with insufficient law enforcement cooperation.