U.S. stops immigrant visas for 75 countries: See the full list

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday it will pause issuing immigrant visas to citizens of 75 countries over concerns that they may rely on public assistance in the future.

In a post on X, the U.S. government said immigrants from the list of countries “take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”

The list, which includes U.S. allies and adversaries, alongside several top destinations for American travelers, was later posted on U.S. State Department’s website.

The countries, divided by region, include:

The Americas
– Antigua and Barbuda
– Bahamas
– Barbados
– Belize
– Brazil
– Colombia
– Cuba
– Dominica
– Grenada
– Guatemala
– Haiti
– Jamaica
– Nicaragua
– St. Kitts and Nevis
– St. Lucia
– St. Vincent and the Grenadines
– Uruguay

Europe
– Albania
– Belarus
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– Kosovo
– Moldova
– Montenegro
– North Macedonia

Asia-Pacific
– Afghanistan
– Armenia
– Azerbaijan
– Bangladesh
– Bhutan
– Cambodia
– Fiji
– Georgia
– Iran
– Iraq
– Jordan
– Kazakhstan
– Kuwait
– Kyrgyzstan
– Laos
– Lebanon
– Mongolia
– Myanmar
– Nepal
– Pakistan
– Russia
– Syria
– Thailand
– Uzbekistan
– Yemen

Africa
– Algeria
– Cameroon
– Cape Verde
– Côte d’Ivoire
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Egypt
– Eritrea
– Ethiopia
– Ghana
– Guinea
– Liberia
– Libya
– Morocco
– Nigeria
– Republic of the Congo
– Rwanda
– Senegal
– Sierra Leone
– Somalia
– South Sudan
– Sudan
– Tanzania
– The Gambia
– Togo
– Tunisia
– Uganda

The freeze, which is set to begin Jan. 21, does not affect tourist visas.

It will remain in effect “until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” according to the U.S. State Department’s website.

This latest announcement follows a string of immigration and travel visa restrictions from the Trump Administration, including the pausing of diversity visas in late December. Diversity visas allowed a maximum of 55,000 immigrants from countries with low U.S. immigration rates to enter the United States each year.

Joseph Edlow, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in a post on X in November, said he’s “directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” at the direction of President Donald Trump.

He added that “the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”

Immigrant visa holders who are granted permanent resident cards, commonly known as “Green Cards,” are eligible for certain types of public assistance, but there is a five-year waiting period after obtaining the status to receive several benefits, including Medicaid, Medicare and the SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program, according to the non-partisan, not-for-profit organization…