Washington: The White House has announced that the US will extend its travel ban to six more countries, four of which are in Africa, in a controversial move that has already drawn criticism.
In a statement on Friday, the White House said that the immigration restrictions will be imposed on Nigeria, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, and Myanmar.
The proclamation, signed by President Donald Trump Friday, is expected to take effect at 12.01 a.m. on February 22.
According to the statement, the US will curb citizens from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria to apply for visas that can lead to permanent residency.
Citizens from the two other countries, Sudan and Tanzania, will be restrained from attending the diversity visa lottery that randomly grants green cards to immigrants from underrepresented countries annually.
The statement claimed that the newly banned countries have failed to meet the US national security requirements.
Meanwhile, the new restrictions do not apply to tourists, business or other non-immigrant travel from those countries, it added.
The new countries will be added to a list of seven nations — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, North Korea — most of which are Muslim-majority, facing the Trump administration’s travel ban issued in 2017.
Immigrant advocates attacked the latest restrictions, calling them an “African Ban”.
The latest move was seen as another sign of the US closing its doors to immigrants under the Trump administration.
