US President, Donald Trump, is planning to place travel restrictions to Nigeria and other six African and Asian countries.
According to the report, Nigerians would not be ban from entering the country but would not be issued with certain types of visas.
Trump is expected to announce the expanded travel restrictions on Monday, which would also mark the third-year anniversary of the first travel ban.
Trump signed on his seventh day in office, sparking controversy at the beginning of his term.
Unlike the initial travel ban list of 2017, most of the new countries don’t have majority-Muslim populations. Several of them, however, have had relatively higher rates of their citizens overstaying visas in the US, according to DHS data.
The report reads in part, “The Trump administration plans to add seven countries to a group of nations subject to travel restrictions, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, along with others in Africa and Asia, according to administration officials who have seen the list.
Government officials who have seen the new list said, “restrictions would apply to travelers and immigrants from Nigeria, Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania”
This is not the first time Donald Trump will place visa restriction restrictions on countries.
The first travel ban issued by the Trump administration affected seven countries with a Muslim majority.
Countries like: Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as some Venezuelan officials and their relatives are under different travel restrictions placed on them by Donald Trump.
The second was issued in March 2017 and a third in September 2017.
The Supreme Court upheld the travel ban in 2017 after two appeal courts had initially blocked the move.
Presently, the restrictions place on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuelan politicians. Chad, a West African country, was removed from the list in April 2018
A senior Trump administration official said that countries that failed to comply with security requirements, including biometrics, information-sharing and counter-terrorism measures, would be affected.
The countries wouldn’t necessarily face blanket bans on travel to the US, but could have restrictions placed on specific types of visas, such as business or visitor visas, administration officials said.”
Nigeria could be on the list because it has a high rate of persons overstaying their visas.
In the 2018 fiscal year, 24 per cent of Eritreans on business or visitor visas overstayed their permits, along with 15 per cent of Nigerians and 12 per cent of people from Sudan. Those compared with a total overstay rate in the category of 1.9 per cent.
Some countries could be banned from participating in the diversity visa lottery program.
According to WSJ, some countries could be banned from participating in the diversity visa lottery program, which awards green cards to people in countries with low levels of immigration to the US.
Nigeria had already been ban from participating from the lottery programme over six years ago.
The officials said the list isn’t final, and on Tuesday the White House was still debating whether to include one or two of the countries
President Trump has called for an end to that program, saying it lets undesirable people into the US, and he has proposed reorienting the existing visa system toward skilled workers instead.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to request for comment. The State Department declined to comment.
The president has since said its policy restricting travel is necessary to prevent potential acts of terrorism, as countries on the list don’t adequately vet their travelers to the US.
A third version of the policy, issued in September 2017, was upheld by a divided Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling in June 2018 on the grounds that federal law gives the president broad authority to suspend entry to the US
Those current restrictions blocked travel by individuals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and North Korea, and by political officials from Venezuela. The administration briefly included Chad on the ban list, but removed the country in April 2018.
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