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comment)
WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is
planning to add seven countries - Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan,
Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania - to its travel ban list,
U.S. media reports said on Tuesday.
Some countries will face bans only on some visa categories,
the Wall Street Journal reported. The list of countries was not
final and could yet change, website Politico said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with the
Journal that he was considering adding countries to the travel
ban, but declined to state which ones. Politico said an
announcement was expected as early as Monday.
The move is likely to sour ties between the United States
and the countries affected under the expanded ban.
Nigeria, for example, Africa's largest economy and most
populous country, is a U.S. anti-terrorism partner and has a
large diaspora residing in the United States.
A senior Trump administration official said that countries
that failed to comply with security requirements, including
biometrics, information-sharing and counter-terrorism measures,
faced the risk of limitations on U.S. immigration.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately
respond to requests for comment. The State Department declined
to comment.
Under the current version of the ban, citizens of Iran,
Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as some
Venezuelan officials and their relatives are blocked from
obtaining a large range of U.S. immigrant and non-immigrant
visas. Chad was previously covered under the ban but was removed in
April 2018.
Citizens of the countries can apply for waivers to the ban,
but they are exceedingly rare.