The proclamation, vowing to “protect the United States from foreign terrorists”, comes into effect on June 9 and is the latest in Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown that has included deportations and efforts to deny certain institutions from enrolling international students.
The countries impacted by ban are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, whose nationals will be obstructed from all types of travel to the US including immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.
Nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela will also be subject to partial restrictions.
According to the June 4 directive, the targeted countries include those that have “taken advantage of the US” and exploited the visa system, those that have failed to re-accept their “removable nationals”, and individuals who pose a “significant risk of overstaying their visas in the US”.
Trump also said he had considered countries’ vetting capabilities, information-sharing policies and terrorist presence.
Crucially, the ban applies to international students and scholars from all 19 countries who are outside the US without a valid visa as of June 9, 2025.
International students and other individuals inside the US with a valid visa on June 9 will not be subject to the ban.
Citizens from the affected countries who are outside the US on June 9 and hold a valid US visa will “likely” not be covered by the ban, according to NAFSA’s interpretation of the ban’s language.
The ban… is devastating news for those students who, in the future, will be desperately needed to rebuild Afghanistan
Naimat Zafary, Afghan Chevening scholar
The proclamation also states that “no immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the applicable effective date of this proclamation shall be revoked pursuant to this proclamation”.
The ban is the latest blow in a stream of attacks on international students, creating widespread fear and causing the US’s ‘demand share’ to drop by 20%, according to Studyportals.
Stakeholders from targeted countries have said the sweeping, “discriminatory” ban comes as “devastating news” for individual students hoping to study in the US.
Naimat Zafary, an Afghan national and PhD Researcher at the University of Sussex, UK, told The PIE News that the ban came as a huge blow to Afghan students “who in the future will be desperately needed to rebuild Afghanistan, and who had overcome numerous obstacles to secure the opportunity to study in the US”.
“As an Afghan Chevening scholar given safe passage to the UK by the British government… I know what an error it is to close off hope,” said Zafary, highlighting that the impact would be felt most acutely by women and girls who are denied an equal education in Afghanistan and who dream of becoming “doctors, lawyers and leaders”.
According to the latest IIE Open Doors data, there were 702 Afghan students in the US in 2023/24.
“No matter how difficult the situation,” Zafary urged all governments and institutions to continue to offer hope and opportunities “to that small number of scholars in exile who will one day rebuild their nation”.
Meanwhile, Iranian students in the US totalled nearly 12,500 in 2023/24, though mounting visa difficulties have become increasingly challenging, with visa issuance to Iranian students falling by 42% in FY2024 and worsening in recent months, according to a group of Iranian academics.
One academic, speaking to The PIE under anonymity, said the travel ban amounted to “racism, discrimination, unfairness and injustice”.
“This means that the American dream for Iranian students, who have been studying diligently and hope to study in the US, vanishes into thin air,” they said.
Given the administration’s recent immigration crackdown, the travel ban will come as little surprise to institutions that are already supporting international students amid unprecedented attacks on their status in the US.
Presidents’ Alliance CEO Miriam Feldblum highlighted the detrimental impact of the ban which she said would “create further chaos and uncertainty for international education, [the] country’s seventh largest service export”.
Stakeholders are particularly concerned that the ban will rely on “selective” and “unreliable” visa overstay data, with Feldblum warning that DHS systems can inflate overstay rates and mistakenly flag students that are in full compliance with visa terms.
It stems from an earlier Executive Order of January 20 about protecting the US from foreign terrorists, which directed government agencies to identify countries deemed to have “deficient” vetting capabilities and those whose nationals were deemed to threaten US national security.
Other exemptions to the ban include lawful permanent residents, asylees, refugees, athletes coming to participate in the 2026 World Cup and the 2029 Olympics, among some other categories.
In a video on social media, Trump tied the ban to the recent alleged terrorist attack in Colorado, saying it exposed the dangers posed to the US of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who overstay their visas.
