Trump Administration Excludes Belarus From The U.S. Travel Ban List

The Trump administration announced Friday, 31 January, it will restrict the ability of immigrants from six countries to travel to the United States.

The proclamation approving the restrictions will go into effect on 22 February. The government will curb immigrant visas for nationals of Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria. The countries will face individual challenges.

The restriction applies to those seeking to live in the U.S. permanently, not temporary travellers. Recall that earlier several media sources added Belarus to the list, causing confusion among political observers and ordinary people.

QUARTZ: If Belarus Gets Under US Travel Ban, How Will It Affect Foreigners?

Then the Belarusian Foreign Ministry didn’t receive any notification from the U.S. side about adding Belarus to the travel ban list. Although the list of countries was not yet final, experts tried to explain why Belarus got into its draft version.

The officials cited national security concerns as the reason for the restrictions, saying the governments of the six countries do not meet requirements for information-sharing and passport security.

The U.S. president signed the original travel ban on Jan. 27, 2017. The order initially denied visas to citizens of Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq. In March 2017, the order was modified as Iraq had been removed from this list.