Zim faces US Visa limits

By Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON, United States – Zimbabwe is one of 36 countries whose citizens could be banned from travelling to the United States over alleged identity documentation fraud and visa violations, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

A memo was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent to United States diplomats on Saturday. It says the listed countries have 60 days to follow new rules set by the State Department.

The State Department said some of the countries have failed to meet certain standards, some had “no competent or cooperative central government authority” to give out trusted identity documents. Others have “a large number of citizens who have violated the terms of their visas.”

The memo adds that if a country agrees to take back third-country nationals being deported from the US, it may help ease other concerns.

The countries facing possible visa limits, travel bans, or other steps include 25 in Africa: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Caribbean countries on the list are: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia.

The memo also names four countries in Asia: Bhutan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, and Syria. And three in Oceania: Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

These countries have until 8AM on Wednesday to send the State Department a first plan on how they will meet the new rules.

A State Department spokesperson would not talk about the memo but said the department is always “reevaluating policies to ensure Americans are safe and foreign nationals abide by the law.”

It is still not clear if the new travel limits will begin after the deadline.

The memo comes one week after Trump brought back his first-term travel ban.

That order blocks entry from 12 countries and limits travel from 7 others. In January, Trump signed another order asking the State Department to list countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension” on their citizens.

These moves are part of Trump’s larger immigration plan, including what he called the “largest mass deportation operation” in US history. His plan also includes canceling visas and ending protections for tens of thousands of immigrants.