Journey Ban Replace: Expanded Country Checklist and Adjudication Pause | Tonkon Torp LLP

On December 2, 2025 and January 1, 2026, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revealed Policy Memoranda saying a pause in processing immigration advantages for people from 39 “travel ban” nations outlined within the Presidential Proclamations from June and December 2025. The pause applies to, however will not be restricted to, advantages purposes pending evaluate with USCIS for adjustment of standing, extension of nonimmigrant keep, and alter of nonimmigrant standing.

The USCIS coverage memoranda clarify that the company is putting an adjudicative maintain on all pending profit requests filed by people who’re residents of, or have been born in, the travel-ban nations to permit for an intensive, case-by-case evaluate. There is not any indication when the pause can be lifted. When purposes topic to the pause are finally adjudicated, country-specific details and circumstances can be thought-about as considerably unfavourable components. Country-specific components embody the speed of visa overstays, the reliability of a rustic’s central authority to subject passports and id paperwork, and the provision of regulation enforcement info.

The USCIS adjudication pause is efficient for people who’re residents of, or born in, the next nations: Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Syria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Pursuant to the December 2025 Presidential Proclamation, Turkmenistan has been moved to the partially restricted checklist and a full restriction on journey has been positioned on the entry of people whose journey paperwork are endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.

In addition to the pause on all pending purposes, USCIS plans to conduct a complete re-review of purposes for people from the 39 journey ban nations permitted after January 20, 2021. Re-review might embody new or repeat interviews or reopening of beforehand adjudicated purposes. In sure circumstances, USCIS might re-open instances permitted previous to this date.

As the Trump Administration’s journey bans proceed to evolve with little discover, we’ll hold our shoppers and group knowledgeable as we obtain dependable steering. Please contact our workplace or immigration counsel previous to touring internationally.