The administration of former US President Donald Trump, upon its return to power, has significantly widened the scope of its controversial travel restrictions. Effective from January 1, 2026, the policy now encompasses 39 countries, though not all face a complete prohibition on entry. However, immigration experts have uncovered a critical and sweeping change buried within the latest proclamation: it effectively bans all international adoptions from every nation on the expanded list, regardless of whether they are under a full or partial travel ban.
A Silent Shift: How Adoption Visas Were Quietly Removed
The Trump administration first reinstated its travel ban in 2025, initially targeting 12 nations. Later that same year, the list was expanded. A key modification occurred between the June and December 2025 proclamations. While the June travel ban explicitly exempted adoption visas from the restrictions, the December update omitted this exemption entirely. Although the administration's documents do not directly state that Americans cannot adopt from these countries, the removal of the protective clause makes it clear that adoption visas are now suspended.
American Immigration Council's senior fellow, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, highlighted this significant yet overlooked detail. "A deeply underreported part of Trump’s latest travel ban is that for unexplained reasons he banned all international ADOPTIONS from the 39 countries," he stated. "Americans are now banned from adopting babies from Nigeria, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, or any of the other countries on the list." He further explained that the June ban covering 19 countries had protected both immediate relatives and international adoptions, but the expansion last month eliminated these exceptions without justification.
The Complete List of 39 Affected Nations
The policy change means prospective adoptive parents in the United States can no longer pursue adoptions from the following countries:
- Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, The Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, The Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
National Interest: The Sole Path for an Exception
With these countries already under a US travel ban, adoption visas have lost their exempt status. The new rules stipulate that an exemption may only be considered if the US Secretary of State and/or the Secretary of Homeland Security personally determines that granting a particular visa would be in the national interest of the United States. This sets a very high and uncertain bar, effectively closing the door for countless families and children awaiting unification through international adoption.
This policy shift represents a major tightening of US immigration and adoption frameworks, impacting humanitarian corridors and family-based immigration. The move has drawn criticism for its lack of explicit reasoning and the profound effect it will have on intercountry adoption processes involving the listed nations.
