Cape Town — The U.S. State Department confirmed that there is no cut-off date for countries to come up with an “action plan” to adhere to the Donald Trump administration’s expanded travel ban.
When asked about many African countries being on the list of 36, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: “So noting where a country perhaps, as you did, is located, the geoposition – the actual location – of a country is not a factor, or what continent that country is on. These are about very specific aspects about whether or not the United States feels it can trust the information we rely on those countries for to determine whether or not they’ll get a visa.”
Bruce, speaking at a department briefing on June 17, 2025, said she could not go into detail about “decision-making or process … but we are of course committed to protecting our nation’s citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process in particular.
“As laid out in President Trump’s Executive Order 14161, “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” the visa adjudication process has got to ensure that U.S.-bound foreign travelers do not pose a threat to the national security and public safety of the United States. That is I think a very low bar and is a bar that every nation should be able to adopt.”
Bruce said that there would be a “period of time” for countries to “do whatever they need to do to convince us that we can trust the process and information” provided during the visa adjudication process.
Countries will, she said, have “a considerable amount of time to rectify whatever the situation is that the State Department … determined is affecting the nature of our trust in how we issue a visa”.
