If you’re applying for a US visa in 2026 and your country appears in recent headlines about a “travel ban,” the practical question is simple: can you still apply, and if so, for what? The answer depends entirely on which list your nationality falls into. This guide explains Presidential Proclamation 10998, who it affects, and what changed from the earlier 2025 order.
What Proclamation 10998 actually does
Effective 12:01 a.m. EST on January 1, 2026, the US State Department began enforcing an expanded entry-restriction order covering nationals of dozens of countries, split into two tiers with very different consequences.
Full suspension — no visas issued at all. Consular officers stopped issuing any immigrant or nonimmigrant visa to nationals of a group of countries that includes Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Haiti, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Chad, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Laos, and the Palestinian Authority.
Partial suspension — specific categories blocked. A second, larger group of countries keeps access to most work and business categories, but loses B-1/B-2 visitor visas, F/M student visas, J exchange-visitor visas, and all immigrant visa categories. This group includes Nigeria, Angola, Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Senegal, Gabon, Togo, Zambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Tonga.
Turkmenistan sits in its own category, with immigrant visa issuance partially suspended while nonimmigrant categories remain largely unaffected.
Because this list is set by executive action and has already been revised once since the original 2025 order, treat any list — including this one — as a snapshot, and verify your specific country and category on the official notice before you rely on it.
Does this affect a visa I already hold?
No — if it was issued before January 1, 2026, it is not revoked. The proclamation applies only to people who were outside the United States on the effective date and did not already hold a valid visa. If you’re already in the US on a valid F-1, B-2, or other visa issued before the cutoff, your status isn’t affected by the suspension itself (though it doesn’t protect you from unrelated status violations).
If you’re inside the partial-suspension group and hold a valid H-1B, L-1, or O-1 visa issued before the effective date, that category generally continues to be processed — the restriction targets visitor, student, exchange, and immigrant categories specifically, not employment-based nonimmigrant work visas.
What changed from the 2025 version
The earlier 2025 proclamation carved out exceptions for immediate-family immigrant visas (spouse and parent categories like IR-1/CR-1, IR-5), adoption visas, and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas. Proclamation 10998 removed those exceptions — as of the 2026 effective date, family-based immigrant petitions from fully-restricted countries are also paused, which is the single biggest practical change for people who already had cases in process.
If your country is on the partial-restriction list
If you’re a national of a partial-suspension country (for example, applying for a US student or tourist visa), the practical impact is:
- New F-1, M-1, J-1, and B-1/B-2 applications are not currently being processed for entry — don’t book flights, pay tuition deposits assuming imminent travel, or schedule an interview expecting a visa will be issued, until the restriction is lifted or you confirm an exemption applies to your case.
- Work visa categories (H-1B, L-1, O-1) are generally unaffected for the partial-suspension group — if your route to the US is employment-based, check with your employer’s immigration counsel rather than assuming the ban applies to you.
- This is a fast-moving policy area. Proclamations of this kind have been revised, narrowed, and expanded multiple times in the past two years. What’s accurate today may not be in a month.
What to actually do
- Check your exact nationality and visa category against the current official list — not a news summary, not this page — before making any decision with financial consequences.
- If you’re already admitted to a US school or have a job offer, ask the institution or employer whether they’re tracking exemptions or deferred-start options for affected students and hires; many universities maintain dedicated guidance pages during active suspensions.
- If your visa was refused or your application is paused for reasons unrelated to the proclamation, see our visa refusal and reappeal guide for how that process works separately from a suspension.
- Don’t rely on secondhand summaries for a decision this consequential — go to the primary source below.
FAQ
Is this the same as the 2017 “Muslim ban”? No — this is a distinct 2025/2026 proclamation with a different legal basis, country list, and category structure, though it follows a similar entry-restriction mechanism.
Can I get a waiver? Prior versions of similar proclamations have included narrow, case-by-case waiver provisions (for example, for existing lawful permanent residents’ immediate relatives in some circumstances). Waiver availability is specific to the current proclamation’s text — this is a question for qualified immigration counsel, not general guidance.
Will this list change again? Very likely. These lists have already been revised more than once. Check the official notice immediately before you act, not from memory of what you read weeks ago.
This is a summary for orientation only, not legal advice, and it is not exhaustive — always verify your specific country, visa category, and any exemption against the official State Department notice before making travel, enrolment, or employment decisions. When VisaMet launches, our eligibility check will flag policy restrictions like this one against your specific nationality and visa type before you invest time in an application. Join the waitlist for updates.