A total of 19 countries, predominantly in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, have been hit with a ban by the United States of America (USA).

The ban on these countries, which had already been dealing with travel restrictions, has led to the cancellation of citizenship ceremonies for migrants from the affected nations.

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According to a BBC report dated Wednesday, December 3, 2025, the ban appears to have taken immediate effect, as the United States has halted the processing of all immigration applications filed by people from these nations.

Of the 19 countries affected by the US ban, 10 are African nations:
1. Chad
2. The Republic of the Congo
3. Equatorial Guinea
4. Eritrea
5. Libya
6. Somalia
7. Sudan
8. Burundi
9. Sierra Leone
10. Togo
11. Afghanistan
12. Myanmar
13. Haiti
14. Iran
15. Yemen
16. Cuba
17. Laos
18. Turkmenistan
19. Venezuela.

A proclamation issued by US President Donald Trump in June imposed a near-total restriction on the entry of people from several of these nations, while partially suspending the entry of travelers and immigrants from the others.

The BBC report added that Immigration agents have been told to "stop final adjudication on all cases", and pause naturalisation ceremonies for migrants on the cusp of gaining citizenship.

It adds that an internal government guidance issued on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), follows last week’s halt on all asylum decisions and includes a directive to re-examine green card visas issued to migrants from the travel-ban nations.

US cancels citizenship ceremonies for migrants from travel ban countries

The latest immigration crackdown by the Trump administration comes after a shooting incident last Wednesday in the national capital, in which guardsman Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed and Andrew Wolfe, 24, was seriously injured.

The suspect, who has been arrested, is originally from Afghanistan and had entered the US under a program providing special protections to Afghans who worked with US forces before the Taliban regained power.

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