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The policy change is a major expansion of the administration’s push to crack down on immigration from countries that it says lack sufficient screening and vetting abilities.
Nov. 14, 2025, 2:50 p.m. ET
The Trump administration is planning a policy change that could make it harder for immigrants to get green cards and other approvals if they are from countries subject to the president’s travel ban, according to internal documents from the Department of Homeland Security.
As part of the expected change, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would consider what it called “country-specific factors” included in President Trump’s travel ban as “significant negative factors” when reviewing applications for many immigration requests, with certain exceptions, according to draft documents reviewed by The New York Times. The policy is still being finalized.
The policy change is a major expansion of the administration’s push to crack down on immigration from countries that it says lack sufficient screening and vetting for official documents. The shift would make it more challenging for those who arrived in the country before the travel ban to remain.
The change is also the latest effort by the Trump administration to narrow paths for legal immigration. Last month, the administration cut the number of refugees it would admit to the United States this fiscal year, rejecting thousands of people fleeing war and persecution while reserving slots for mostly white Afrikaner South Africans.
The policy change comes after Mr. Trump in June signed a travel ban on 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East. The ban bars travel to the United States by citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The ban also imposed partial restrictions on citizens from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Citizens of those countries cannot enter the United States permanently or receive certain visas.
