Two other countries, Sudan and Tanzania, will be barred from participating in the diversity visa lottery, which randomly awards green cards to 50,000 immigrants from underrepresented countries annually.

Many of the recipients are from African countries.

The six countries will join a list of seven nations, most of them Muslim-majority, that faced significant travel restrictions under President Trump’s original travel ban, issued in 2017.

That order was the administration’s third attempt to craft a legally workable policy fleshing out one of Mr. Trump’s top campaign promises, after the first two versions were met with significant criticism and struck down by federal courts.

However, unlike five of those original countries —Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen travellers from the newly added nations who seek to visit the U.S. for business or pleasure will still be permitted entry.

None of the original restrictions, which also included bans against as small number of citizens from Venezuela and North Korea, are being lifted as part of Friday’s action.

 – Feb. 1, 2020 @ 2:21 GMT |