US President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the House Republican conference meeting in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. Donald Trump’s hold over the incoming Republican US Senate faces an early test Wednesday as a longtime ally of the president-elect seeks to win a leadership fight against two bastions of the party establishment. Photographer: Allison Robbert/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a new travel ban that could impact citizens from dozens of countries to varying extents, as reported by the New York Times on Friday.

According to anonymous officials, the draft list includes 43 countries that are categorized into three different levels of travel restrictions. The red category includes countries whose citizens would be completely barred from entering the United States.This list features Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. The orange category consists of ten countries—Belgium, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan—where visa restrictions would be significantly tightened.

Citizens from these orange-listed countries may only be allowed entry if they are affluent business travelers, while those seeking immigrant or tourist visas would be excluded. Additionally, individuals from these countries would be required to undergo in-person interviews to obtain a visa. Finally, the yellow category comprises 22 countries that will have 60 days to address U.S. concerns; otherwise, they risk being moved to a more restrictive category.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the internal discussions, noted that this list was developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and changes may occur before it reaches the White House. As one of his first actions in office, Trump halted the U.S. refugee admission program and nearly all foreign aid.

He directed the government to identify countries whose nationals should be banned from entering the U.S. on security grounds, a move reminiscent of the so-called “Muslim ban” from his first term. That ban, which took effect in 2017, targeted citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. It sparked international outrage and led to domestic court challenges. While Iraq and Sudan were eventually removed from the list, the Supreme Court upheld a later version of the ban in 2018 for the remaining countries, along with North Korea and Venezuela.