With President Donald Trump’s expansion of the travel ban to 39 countries last December, a number of nations have begun responding with reciprocal travel bans for American citizens.

Included on the list of countries whose citizens now face a total ban from entering the U.S., Burkina Faso and Mali over the past week reciprocated with a reciprocal ban on all visas for Americans. Fellow African nations of Niger and Chad had put similar measures in place earlier in 2025.

Mali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation released a statement saying that any U.S. citizens will now also be subject to “the same conditions and requirements as those imposed by the American authorities on Malian citizens entering the United States.”

Malawi brings back visas for citizens of 48 countries, including the U.S.

Included among the list of 22 countries that do not face a full travel ban but have newly imposed restrictions on all student and business visas, the African nation of Malawi is now also changing its entry requirements for American citizens, Visas News reported.

Back in 2024, the landlocked country bordering Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique significantly reworked its visa program to grant visa-free entry for short-term tourists from 79 countries including the United States.

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In a statement released on Jan. 2, the Government of Malawi said this program has now been scrapped to once again require visas for Americans.

While not directly related to Trump’s travel ban — since it also puts in place the same restrictions for citizens of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany, among other countries — it is a sign of the government significantly shifting its diplomatic relations and policies regarding who can enter its borders.

Four African countries have now responded to President Trump’s travel ban with reciprocal entry restrictions for Americans.

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Thinking of visiting Malawi? These are the travel changes to know

The Malawian government statement goes on to say that it has “revised its visa regime effective 3 January, 2026. Under the new regime, countries within the same regional blocs with Malawi and those that do not subject Malawians to visa requirements have been exempted.”

Countries for whose citizens visa-free access has been granted include Singapore, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Ecuador, Jamaica, and Fiji, among others.

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Travelers from countries without visa-free access to Malawi will now need to apply for an e-visa on the government’s website. The process is still fairly simple, as it can be done entirely online, but it does subject applicants to a new $50 USD fee.

Ranked level two “exercise increased caution” by the U.S. State Department, Malawi has seen a sharp increase in international tourists since scrapping the visa requirements in 2024. Most come to see the country’s many wildlife reserves and national wonders, such as Mount Mulanje and Liwonde National Park.

In December 2025, the Malawian government also changed its laws to require non-citizen travelers to pay, before check-in, the full cost of their hotel stay in U.S. dollars, Euros, British pounds, or another currency generally considered stable on the global market.

The move was widely seen as a further deterrent to international tourism but came after the International Monetary Fund pulled out of a program putting $35 million into the country’s economy.

Related: Another country makes call to cancel all visas for Americans