The Trump administration is reportedly considering adding 36 more countries to the travel ban list, out of which 25 are African countries, and it includes Ghana is included.
A US State Department memo reviewed by the Washington Post indicates that the US is currently scrutinising the 36 countries as it considers a significant expansion of the travel ban announced by the Trump administration early this month.
The 25 African countries on the list include Angola. 
; Benin 
; Bhutan; Burkina Faso 
; CapeVerde 
; Cameroon 
; Côte d’Ivoire 
; DR Congo 
; Djibouti 
; Ethiopia 
; Egypt 
; Gabon 
; Gambia 
; Ghana 
; Liberia 
; Malawi 
; Mauritania 
; Niger 
; #Nigeria 
; Senegal 
#South Sudan 
; Tanzania 
; Uganda 
; Zambia 
; and #Zimbabwe 
.
The 11 other countries are which are mainly in the Caribbean, Central Asia, and Pacific Islands, are Antigua and Barbuda, Cambodia, Dominica, Kyrgyzstan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, #SãoToméandPríncipe 
; Syria; Tonga; Tuvalu; and Vanuatu.
60 Days Deadline
The memo, which was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent Saturday to U.S. diplomats in the affected countries, said the governments of listed countries were being given 60 days to meet new benchmarks and requirements established by the State Department.
It also set a deadline of 8 am on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, for each of the 36 countries to provide an initial action plan for meeting the requirements.
Reasons for the possible ban
The memo identified varied benchmarks that, in the Trump administration’s estimation, these countries were failing to meet.
- Some countries had “no competent or cooperative central government authority to produce reliable identity documents or other civil documents,”
- Others suffer from “widespread government fraud.”
- Some have large numbers of citizens who overstayed their visas in the United States
Other reasons included the availability of citizenship by monetary investment without a requirement of residency and claims of “antisemitic and anti-American activity in the United States” by people from those countries.
The memo also stated that if a country was willing to accept third-country nationals who were removed from the United States or enter a “safe third country” agreement, it could mitigate other concerns.
It was not immediately clear when the proposed travel restrictions would be enforced if the demands were not met.
The move is being widely viewed as another escalation in the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration,
By Samuel Dowuona
