White House slaps broad travel restrictions on more African nations | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Since the start of his second term in the White House, President Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted African nations with travel restrictions, bonds, and in certain cases, flat-out entry bans.

Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Chad, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea are all now included in the list of countries whose citizens are fully banned on entering the U.S. while those from Angola, Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are unable to apply for most business and student visas.

At the start of August, the U.S. State Department also singled out Malawi and Zambia as countries whose passport holders need to pay an additional $15,000 bond to obtain certain types of visas. After requiring similar bonds of between $5,000 and $15,000 before the end of 2025, the administration quietly extended these restrictions to 29 more countries earlier this week.

President’s travel bond program expands to 38 countries

While Venezuela and Cuba were also included in the list amid U.S. forces seizing President Nicolas Maduro, the overwhelming majority of countries included on the expanded list are in Africa: Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Guinea, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Principe, Tanzania, and Uganda, among others.

The new requirement to put up a bond of between $5,000 and $15,000 when applying for visas to enter the U.S. will come into effect on Jan. 21.

While the government website states that the amount will be refunded either upon denial of the visa or after the applicant completes their trip and exits the U.S., the bond program overwhelmingly targets countries whose citizens on average earn less than $100 a month.

As those traveling to the U.S. from these countries already made up a much wealthier minority, the bond program has been widely criticized as discriminatory and racist, since it specifically targets countries the president previously described in derogatory terms.

Four African countries have already responded to President Trump’s travel ban with reciprocal measures for Americans.

Image source&colon; Shutterstock

“Outrageous and needlessly cruel”: Multiple organizations and countries react to travel restrictions

“Expanding an already sweeping, discriminatory policy designed to bar Muslims and people of color from entering the United States is outrageous and needlessly cruel,” Raha Wala, vice president of strategy and partnerships at the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement when several Muslim-majority countries were included in the expanded travel ban earlier in the month.

On the website for the visa bond program, the State Department justifies inclusion of specific countries based on what it claims are high overstay rates.

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The implementation of the program means that travelers from these countries can also only enter the U.S. from three airports equipped to process the new requirements: Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and Washington Dulles International Airport.

“Any citizen or national traveling on a passport issued by one of these countries, who is found otherwise eligible for a B1/B2 visa, must post a bond for $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000,” the website stated as of Jan. 7. “The amount is determined at the time of the visa interview.”