International Travel to the US Today

Grace Shie: Welcome to our new series, Employment and Benefits Unpacked, where we dive into the many employment, benefits and mobility issues facing organizations across jurisdictions.

Each episode will be hosted by a different Mayer Brown partner from our global Employment and Benefits group. We'll be offering fresh perspectives and insights for employers, HR professionals and in house counsel. You can subscribe to the series on all major platforms.

I'll be your host for this episode. My name is Grace Shie and I am the practice leader for the firm's Global Mobility and Migration group. I'm delighted to be joined by my partner, Morgan Bailey of our Global Mobility practice. Both of us are based here in Washington, DC.

We help multinational employers navigate the ever changing landscape of US immigration, including how changing policy impacts the mobility of their global and US workforces.

Today, we're going to be unpacking the topic of the US travel ban. On June 4th, 2025, US President Donald Trump issued a presidential proclamation imposing US travel restrictions on citizens of certain countries. We're here to talk about what these travel restrictions mean, these travel restrictions commonly referred to as a “travel ban,” and what they mean for US travel and the impact to employers and their mobile workforce.

We're providing information that is current as of today's recording, July 15th, 2025. But note that this is a dynamic area and there will undoubtedly be changes and updates by the US administration. So in the coming weeks, please look to Mayer Brown's website where we will publish our alerts on this subject.

And if you'd like us to cover a particular topic in a future episode, please e-mail us at unpacked@mayerbrown.com.

And with that, let's get started.

Morgan, let's set the stage. Tell us about the travel ban that went into effect on June 9th. What countries are affected and what does it mean to be the subject of a travel ban?

Morgan Bailey: Grace, the presidential proclamation outlines two different types of travel restrictions, one being a full ban and one being a partial ban.

There's a full ban on citizens from 12 countries. These are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. For these countries, their citizens are restricted from traveling to the United States, whether on an immigrant visa, which would provide permanent residency, or non immigrant temporary visas.

This means that citizens of these countries are restricted or not allowed to travel to the United States on business, or for tourism, or to study as international students, or even for employment under work visas such as the H1B or L1. With very limited exceptions.

Then we also have the partial ban on citizens of seven countries. These countries are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. For these countries the restrictions are narrower. The restrictions apply if the travel is for business or for tourism on visitor visas or for international study for students and exchange visitor visas.

But the restrictions do not apply to other temporary categories such as professional workers under the H1B or intercompany transferees under the L1. So travelers with the H1B or the L1 work visas may still travel to the United States for employment. However, even for those categories, consular officers are instructed to reduce visa validity to the extent permitted by law.

Grace Shie: What does that mean to reduce visa validity?

Morgan Bailey: That means when a traveler from a partial banned country applies for a visa at the US Embassy or consulate, the officer may shorten the validity period of the visa. So where a visa might ordinarily be issued for a three-year period, the officer might choose to reduce the approval period for six months or something less than three years.

Grace Shie: Thank you.

So you've just listed 19. I counted 19 countries in total with quite a geographic spread. And I hear that the impacted countries are in Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. And you've touched on two categories of countries, countries subject to a full ban and countries subject to a partial ban.

And I know in our discussions with our clients, there's been quite a few questions relating to the differences, the practical differences, between these two so-called categories. Can you walk us through those differences?

Morgan Bailey: Sure.

So the full ban is, as the name suggests, almost total, a full suspension of travel by all citizens of the identified countries.

So if you're a citizen of one of those 12 countries subject to the full ban, you're barred from entering the United States in any capacity, whether as an immigrant, which we think of as a green card, being in the green card process, or as a non immigrant, which refers to temporary visa holders. So for global companies, that latter category covers employees traveling to the United States on short term business trips to attend conferences or even to work under specific US work visa.

Grace Shie: So I think I heard you say that the ban is almost total and that suggests that there might be exceptions.

Morgan Bailey: That's right.

So the proclamation lists nine exceptions from the full and partial bans. These exceptions include lawful permanent residents, so those who have actually been granted a green card. It also, there's an exception, there's also an exception for dual nationals who travel on another passport from a non designated country who may continue to travel to the United States. In other words, the full and partial bans do not apply to these two groups.

Grace Shie: Those are notable exceptions and have been notable for our clients.

So walking this through, walking us through an example, if you are a citizen of Afghanistan, but you also hold a US green card, the travel ban does not apply to you, even though Afghanistan is listed in the presidential proclamation or identified in the presidential proclamation.

Similarly, if based on the dual national example that Morgan just described, if you are a citizen of Afghanistan and a citizen of a second country such as the UK, if you travel to the United States using your UK passport, then it sounds like the travel ban would also not apply to you.

Morgan Bailey: That's exactly right. And there are additional exceptions. For example, those holding diplomatic visas and also certain transit visas.

Grace Shie: And importantly for the United States, I know a subject that has come up. Elite athletes and their support staff are also exempt.

The presidential proclamation identifies these exceptions if the travel to the United States is for the World Cup, for the Olympics and or for other designated sports events. And that's notable because the World Cup is being Co hosted in the United States next summer. And of course, Los Angeles is scheduled to host the Olympics in 2028.

Morgan Bailey: So that's a huge relief for sports fans.

Now the partial ban is narrower, meaning citizens of those seven countries are prohibited from coming to the United States in certain visa categories, but still allowed in others.

So what's prohibited? B1, B2 visas, which are issued to those traveling for business or tourism for a temporary period. In addition, F, M and J visas issued to those seeking to study in the United States or attending exchange programs here.

But for those working in the United States on work visas, such as the H1B for professional specialty occupation positions or for the L1 for intercompany transferees, that travel is still permitted.

And the exceptions we talked about earlier also apply to this group.

Grace Shie: So a company employing someone who is say a citizen of Cuba, which is on the partial travel ban list, if the employee is otherwise eligible for an L1 intra company work visa, that employee is not subject to the ban.

And that means the impact, not just to travelers but also to employers, is reduced when it comes to the countries subject to the partial ban. Is that right?

Morgan Bailey: That's right, that's exactly right.

Now, Grace, why don't we discuss the policy reasons behind this presidential proclamation? Perhaps you and I can speak to that next.

Grace Shie: Sure.

So the presidential proclamation is named, and I'll quote the name, restricting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats.

So the proclamation is rooted in national security and foreign policy concerns. And in the proclamation several or multiple factors are stated to have been considered when developing this policy. And those factors include each country's screening and vetting capabilities, their information sharing policies and other countries specific risk factors, such as a potential terrorist presence or the reported visa overstay rate for citizens of that country.

So for each of the 19 countries that is the subject of the presidential proclamation, specific reasons are identified as the basis of the suspension of travel. Some countries are identified as lacking, and I quote, competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents, end quote. Others are cited for having historically refused to accept back their citizens when they've been removed from the United States. And other countries are cited for having high rates of visa overstays in the United States, meaning citizens of those countries have remained the United States beyond the period allowed. For example, for the countries on the full ban list, if you look at the visa overstay rate range that's given, they run from about 20% to 70% for the visa overstay rate range. As for the countries on the partial list, that rate range runs from 7% to 35%.

Morgan Bailey: That's right.

And it's interesting because the language from the executive order focuses on security and vetting. But we see that the list of countries is quite broad and includes countries with different profiles from different regions around the world, some with known security issues, others that have posed more administrative or diplomatic challenges.

Now, Grace, let's provide some historical perspective. Under President Trump's first administration, he issued a travel ban within his first 100 days in office. How does this current travel ban differ from that of his first term?

Grace Shie: That's a great question.

So let's put aside the travel bans that were put in place because of the pandemic in 2020. If we go back to the first 100 days of his first term, back to 2017, President Trump issued a travel ban that identified a smaller number of countries.

Now, that ban was subject to judicial challenge in the courts, which led to a second ban and eventually evolved to a third one that was ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court. And those various iterations, the countries that were identified included Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and at one point certain Venezuelan officials.

So that ban was narrower in scope, both in terms of the number of countries identified and the types of visas affected. And at one point, it also included a waiver process by which a traveler could apply for a request, a waiver, to the travel ban, subject to meeting strict conditions.

The current ban that was issued last month, subject to the presidential proclamation, it's broader in in certain ways. The one obvious factor, it covers more countries, 19 in total with 12 that are subject to what we refer to as the full ban. And certainly the geographic spread appears to be wider because we are looking at regions spanning Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.

So with that, you know, we've talked about the travel ban in its current form, how it impacts travelers, the two different categories, full ban and partial ban. And we've, we've compared it a bit to that from the first term dating back to 2017. I think a natural place for us to take this discussion in view of the clients that we advise is the impact to employers who have a mobile workforce or an international workforce where employees may be required to travel internationally on business in addition to personal travel. Why don't we talk about that impact a bit, Morgan and, and what you're seeing?

Morgan Bailey: Well, for employers, the impact can be significant if they have employees from these designated countries.

If you have employees who are citizens of the 12 full ban countries, they're now barred from entering the United States for work, for business meetings, training, even short term assignments. That means no new hires from these countries, no intercompany transfers, and no business travel.

But if you have existing employees from those countries who are already in the United States with valid visas, they're not directly affected by the ban. But if they leave the United States, they may face additional scrutiny when returning. And so travel carries higher risk.

For the partial banned countries, you can still bring employees over on certain work visas, but you'll face, you'll potentially face, shorter visa validity and potentially more scrutiny.

And for all of the affected countries, the ban disrupts business travel, cross-border projects, and even things like attending conferences or negotiating deals in person.

Grace Shie: Morgan, do you expect additional travel restrictions to be introduced?

Morgan Bailey: Yes, we do. For example, earlier this month, the administration announced new visa restrictions for Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria.

The new policy limits nearly all non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to nationals of these four countries to a single entry valid for just three months. This is a significant reduction from the previous conditions which granted multi-entry visas valid for two years or more.

While the Department of State is describing the change as a global reciprocity realignment and that it's seeking to match the visa terms offered to American citizens by these countries, the Department of State is also saying that these policies are subject to ongoing review and could be changed based on factors as the country's issuing secure travel documents, curbing visa overstays, as well as sharing law enforcement data.

Grace Shie: Our understanding is that the Department of State is constantly evaluating visa and travel policies and may recommend full or partial suspension of entry for those nations that it believes do not meet the US government's benchmarks.

Morgan Bailey: That's right, Grace. In some instances, the countries will be provided advanced notice, such as maybe 60 days, to make changes before the suspension takes place.

Grace Shie: Yes. And of course, concurrently, we've seen that the US government is more closely scrutinizing individual travelers. We see closer scrutiny for social media activity, travel history, visa compliance, political views, prior arrests or citations, and in some instances, data that's found on electronic devices.

This has all been part of a broader risk assessment. So this discussion that we're having today underscores the need for companies and employers to be proactive. That means assessing whether you employ key personnel and other employees from the designated countries subject to the travel ban and if so how to adjust to make sure business needs continue to be met in the face of these challenges.

Because of the US travel restrictions, employers may need to consider alternative arrangements such as remote work or relocating meetings or projects to different jurisdictions. And employers may consider offering tools or other resources to support impacted travelers.

That brings us to the end of today's episode. Morgan, thank you for joining me and shedding light on the challenges and realities of US travel today.

Morgan Bailey: Thank you, Grace. I appreciate the opportunity to join you and discuss these important issues impacting both individuals and employers. It's important for everyone affected to stay informed.

Grace Shie: For our viewers and listeners, there are more episodes to come. Please check out our Employment and Benefits Unpacked page on the Mayer Brown website or your preferred streaming platform.

If you'd like us to discuss any of the issues we've covered today, please get in touch. And if you have any suggested topics for future episodes, as mentioned, please send them to unpacked@mayerbrown.com.

Until next time, thank you for joining us.