Trump weighs up US travel bans on 43 countries in draft list

Dozens of countries could be affected by US travel bans reportedly being mulled over by the Trump administration.

Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly considering enforcing new travel bans that would affect citizens in dozens of countries.

A total of 43 countries have been named on a draft list, which is divided into three categories of travel restrictions, The New York Times reported, citing official sources.

The red category of countries, whose citizens would be completely barred from entering the US, includes Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

Another 10 countries in the orange category – Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan – would see their visas sharply restricted.

“In those cases, affluent business travellers might be allowed to enter, but not people travelling on immigrant or tourist visas,” The New York Times reported.

Dozens of countries could be affected by US travel bans. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

Citizens from countries on the orange list would also have to undergo in-person interviews to receive a visa.

Another 22 countries on a yellow list would have 60 days to address US concerns or risk being moved up to one of the more stringent categories.

“The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations, cautioned that the list had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by the time it reached the White House,” The New York Times said.

Citizens of countries in the red category would be completely barred from entering the US. Picture: iStock

It comes after Mr Trump froze the US’ refugee admission program and almost all foreign aid as one of his first acts in office.

Mr Trump also ordered the US government to identify countries whose nationals should be banned from entering on security grounds.

The move was akin to the so-called “Muslim ban” of his first term which targeted citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The 2017 ban ignited international outrage and lead to domestic court rulings against it.

Iraq and Sudan were dropped from the list, but in 2018 the Supreme Court upheld a later version of the ban for the other nations as well as North Korea and Venezuela.