The Trump Administration is considering an outright ban of citizens from 11 countries entering the United States and among the many usual suspects is a very odd outlier…Bhutan?!
Trump Administration Considers Bhutan Travel Ban
Last year I wrote about my trip to the magical kingdom of Bhutan…one of the best trips I have ever taken. Bhutan is consistently ranked as one of the world’s “happiest” countries. Landlocked between China and India, the Asian nation of less than one million citizens enjoys political tranquility, universal healthcare and education, and pristine natural resources.
Yet Bhutan finds itself on a list of 10 nations under consideration by the Trump Administration for an outright travel ban, meaning citizens of Bhutan would not be allowed to travel to the USA under any circumstance. That list includes:
- Afghanistan
- Bhutan
- Cuba
- Iran
- Libya
- North Korea
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Syria
- Venezuela
- Yemen
I’m not into blanket bans, but I somewhat understand why 10/11 countries are on the list…Bhutan, however, I do not understand. Could it be a visa reciprocity thing, like tariff reciprocity? (Bhutan charges $100 per person per day, plus a one-time visa application fee of $40 for US citizens)
More Travel Restrictions Under Consideration
Beyond the “red” category above, two other categories of travel restrictions are under consideration, including an “orange” category that would still allow certain tourist visa but ban immigrant and tourist visas. Those countries include:
- Belarus
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Laos
- Myanmar
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Sierra Leone
- South Sudan
- Turkmenistan
A third “yellow” category of 22 countries would be given 60 days to clean up perceived “deficiencies” or face being moved into the orange or red categories:
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Chad
- Republic of Congo
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Dominica
- Equatorial Guinea
- Gambia
- Liberia
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Vanuatu
- Zimbabwe
The list was shared with the New York Times but has not received final review from Secretary of State Marco Rubio or other top officials.
Bhutan Is A Lovely Country
I’m not sure many Bhutanese citizens have a desire to come to the USA or could afford it, but I cannot miss this opportunity to draw you back to my trip report and point out what a wonderful trip I had to Bhutan:
- Drukair A320 Business Class Kathmandu – Paro
- Le Méridien Thimphu
- Six Senses Thimphu
- Great Coffee In Thumphu, Bhutan
- Photo Essay: Bhutan
- There Is No Cultural Appropriation In Bhutan
- Hiking To Tiger’s Nest
- Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary
- Indian Visa Scare At Paro International Airport
- Bhutan Airlines A320 Business Class Paro – New Delhi
CONCLUSION
President Trump imposed narrower restrictions during his first term, justifying such travel bans on the basis of the pandemic. These more wide-reaching bans are not yet in effect, but under consideration…and you just have to wonder what is underlying them.
Any foreign visitor to the USA must undergo some level of background check and all visitors from developing countries who want a visa to the USA must undergo extensive checks. Is that not enough?
Mark this story as developing.
Haiti ought to be near the top of the list , because many people value their pets .
100%! And very dirty dangerous people as a rule.
What about the millions of ‘dangerous’, ‘illegal’, ‘criminals’ Trump was going to deport on ‘day one’? What about Guantanamo Bay? What about that inflation Trump was going to reduce on ‘day one’? What about those tariffs? How those working for you?
You morons just don’t get it do you….anything to distract your short little attention spans and the lies never stop. Throw in a bash at a Trans person or DEI and you are sold. And you sadly still fall for it…lie after lie.
The shitty thing being that Americans really suffer from Trump BS. If only the suffering could be directed only to those who support the infliction of pain on others.
Don’t know why anyone from Bhutan would want to come to the US, why go from a country that is about “happiness” to a cynical, negative place like the US.
MAGA world is starting a civil war here in an attempt to kill off the last of American freedoms. Every single day, the news gets worse and worse.
As a once proud American, Its incredibly difficult to love or even like this country and I pray to god that the evil that has taken hold gets extinguished.
Now I get it. Trump has varied attacks on nations ranked highest in citizen happiness. Denmark, Canada, and now Bhutan as an example.
Maybe this is more about Make The World Miserable Again so America doesn’t look like the immense joke of a nation it has become in the last month.
“…magical kingdom of Bhutan…one of the best trips I have ever taken.”
Same, Matthew, same. I know how you feel.
I’m assuming that nobody in the Trump administration or any single Trump voter has ever heard of Bhutan, so they just threw it on the list for kicks.
I also wonder what Laos is doing on the orange list.
I’m wondering if they thought it was something else…
Then you are assuming no one here reads Matt’s trip reports and voted for Trump. And then you would be wrong.
But I agree it would be funny as hell if someone added as a joke. And as Matt said, most of their people are lucky enough to take a trip to an indoor toilet let alone the incredible United States of America.
Dave, I really don’t know what to make of you. Sometimes you’re nice and insightful, and sometimes you say incredibly incendiary things, but I sort of assume you’re trolling, so for all I know you were the #1 Harris supporter and you just troll for kicks.
Regardless, I think my point is still more or less relevant, even if Matthew has indeed enlightened the MAGA world to the wonders of Bhutan.
Oh no, he’s a bitter, serious proud Trump/Desantis supporter, and also quite cynical.
Dave is a little confusing at times. I am convinced he loves our nation and adds value to this blog. Unlike some that flip flop and troll
When you elect someone who appoints dummys & yes men to responsible & powerful positions, you get a travel ban on Bhutan. Laos, Cambodia & Caribbean nations make no sense either. Once these countries reciprocate, which is typical, US citizens are equally punished with travel bans, no VOA’s and/or crazy expensive visa fees. Truthfully though, the guy in charge only cares about his supporters. They don’t really travel outside of Vegas, Orlando & the Golden Spoon Buffet for the most part so no material impact & he gets to brag about “National Security”.
I think the issue with the Caribbean countries is related to citizenship by investment schemes more than anything else. Otherwise, I agree with you.
Bhutan actually has a pretty high overstay rate, so not surprising at all. Overstays by country is publicly available information at DHS: https://www.dhs.gov/publication/entryexit-overstay-report
Thanks for providing data and not being a blithering idiot like a handful of commenters in this post already.
That being said, this still looks like a silly mistake by the administration; even if the -rate- is high, the total amount is still miniscule. And Bhutan definitely sticks out compared to the rest of the red/orange countries, which are basically failed states, or very close to it.
Failed states? I thought y’all loved Russia and think it’s the second coming of Xanadu. At least that’s what Tucker Carlson told everyone in MAGA. Ya know, they have clean subways and coin deposit shopping carts.
You’re clearly too much of a mental midget to grasp nuance (In addition to being a mental midget at history).
If going by percentage, sure. But you fail to point out that the total number of visitors to Bhutan was 188 in 2023 on a business or tourist visa. Yes, 188. Of those, 48 were reported as overstaying. The horror!!!! They are pouring in! They are taking our jobs! They are eating the cats and dogs! Ban the entire country now!
Don’t some proportion of “overstays” end up not being true overstays at the end of the day because they are having a legal adjustment of status while in the country and end up having the status adjusted?
Yet another demonstration of the intelligence of Criminal Trump. I think the best thing to do is just ban all people from other countries from entering the US, after all, with a dictator in charge of a country where armed police shoot people in the back, planes crash while safety and regulation is cut back and there’s next to no public health care, who would want to visit?
If this was a central African country, no one would.
Enjoy your isolation.
What a f#ckimg a## clown who has no clue what goes on here from your foreign 3rd world sh#thole that can’t defend itself without American troops and money.
Trump just keeps winning by making babies like you cry daily. But nice to see your anti African racism in action.
And public health care should never be free, silly liberal nonsense to cover from the lazy among us, which unfortunately we have in America. We call them “liberals” but in reality they are junkies and other garbage looking for a handout to make up for the poor life choices they made.
Oh dear, a supporter of Criminal Trump.
The list I read has Bhutan up for a partial suspension if they don’t address deficiencies.
Of course Bhutan is on the red list, and Russia is on the orange list.
Cuba? Is Trump jealous and bitter because the people in Cuba dance so much better than he does.
We need to stop foreigners from buying homes and condos here. We don’t need foreigners owning houses/condos in Florida, California or Arizona etc. That should be for Americans.
Immigration is completely out of hand also. That includes legal immigration,
There are several possible reasons for listing Bhutan on the list. Trump doesn’t know Lesotho so he might not know Bhutan. If so, a State Department civil servant added Bhutan for consideration.
1. There are rampant scams reported in the Bhutanese press of citizens from Nepal falsely claiming to be Bhutanese refugees who seek to enter the United States.
1a. Nepalis engaging in scams is not rare. Last year, neary 1000 Nepali doctors had their US licensing exam scores voided after they scored unusually high, marked the same answers, and completed the test very rapidly. They broke through security in various ways to do this.
2. High overstay rate on visas. It’s something like 13%, which is very high but not the highest. There are some countries in the low 20’s percentage wise.
3. Unlikely, but retaliation for the high visa costs to Americans. It’s US$200/day plus $40, I believe.
I am just reporting things, not defending the proposal.
Thank you Derek for a responsible explanation of the potential reasons for the decision. Unfortunately on both sides, legitimate discussion is seldom found here, it’s either F Trump or F the liberals.
Derek, a few things. Most importantly, let’s look at the totals. There were in 2023 188 Bhutanese arrivals on business and tourist visas. That’s it. Of those 48 overstayed their visa. Regardless of high overstay percentages we are talking a total in a year overstays amounting to less passengers than on, say, the smallest regional jet. Further, I have a hard time understanding how a Nepalese passport holder can claim to be a Bhutanese refugee. There are Nepalese living in Bhutan, some have Bhutanese passports, some are in Nepal working on special permission. How could they claim to be refugees from Bhutan, that makes no sense other than those who hold Bhutan passports and how many are there using this tactic…a few? “Rampant?” Talk about an overstatement. A refugee from what? I have no clue why you bring up Nepalis in this discussion. It has nothing to do with Bhutan.
As to the tourist fees in Bhutan they are quite reasonable for what you get in the end. It is a way to provide jobs to Bhutanese in the tourist industry and primarily used for education. As well, to add some guardrails to the country turning into Nepal and becoming overwhelmed by backpackers ruining the culture, destroying the environment, and spending as little as possible. This is not some random act of greed and is a decent value. Although, I highly doubt MAGA even knows about the fees or care.
Thankful for your informative post!! I hope that it gets to the eyes of those who are considering these bans.
You’re clearly too much of a mental midget to grasp nuance (In addition to being a mental midget at history).
Oops replied to the wrong person!
Is that what a “mental midget” does? 🙂
Some of the countries on the list are known to sell passports and sell citizenship. So this could be why.
St. Kitts and Nevis does this. However, other countries have reacted by retaining visa waivers for St. Kitts and Nevis passport holders who show a birthplace in St. Kitts and Nevis and not a foreign country. Rich Syrians and Russians have bought St. Kitts and Nevis passports but their place of birth are in places like Syria and Russia.
Well, Trump is also touting Golden passports for the U.S. Many countries do it. I don’t see them on the list. Have you spent time in Vancouver, BC? Should we ban Canadians because they do it? Wait, never mind, he just might.
Citizenship sales not relevant to the red category countries.
Bhutan was put on by the stupid Trump regime. They meant Bangladesh.
The article I read said Bhutan is on the list of countries recommended for a partial suspension if they don’t address deficiencies.
https://www.reuters.com/world/countries-considered-trumps-potential-new-travel-ban-2025-03-15/
Bhutan charging over $150 a day to visit for Americans is NOT GOOD so this is why they should reverse this or face ban from USA . I know Bhutan and speak and share same culture. just to educate OP, most so called tourists come on valid visa but they don’t leave because there is no punishment for unauthorized stay until now where the TRUMP admin is enforcing the law. The same law all the racist 200 countries in the world enforce which is secure its border and crack down on illegal immigration and lawlessness.
It’s probably on the list so the Trump administration can point to the Buddhist country when someone says this is a return of the Muslim ban.
Myanmar I understand, but not Laos. Hopefully Cambodia can work this out. I will be there this summer.
They loaded Bhutan when they wanted to load Bangladesh in the most restrictive category.
Yep. Probably that and no one was man enough to step up and correct. Like JD getting all flustered about having never been to Ukraine.
Bhutan a country i would love to visit even with their fees
This is why,
https://thebhutanese.bt/bhutan-on-a-draft-red-list-for-a-complete-travel-ban-to-the-usa/
The Bhutanese looked at possible reasons behind this move by the USA.
This inclusion in the draft ‘Red List’ comes in the backdrop of a major immigration scam in Nepal in 2023 where many Nepalese citizens posing as ‘Bhutanese Refugees,’ went to USA. This immigration scam involved top Nepalese politicians and bureaucrats and also certain senior figures from the camps.
To add to this, last year, there were reports of a number of Bhutanese crossing the border into Canada and five Bhutanese were even detained.
Play the rules or get banned.
Everyone knows that the Bhutanese have a mean streak a mile wide and HUGE fangs… oh wait, that’s the killer rabbit from Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
It would be sort of in keeping with wanting to grab attention at all costs if the Trump clown show added Canada, Mexico and/or Ukraine to one of these four colored blacklist categories.
The amount of hatred for Ukraine spreading from the White House and throughout MAGA world is just out of this world.
It’s the oddest thing. Pure doublespeak trying to blame Ukraine for this. Sadly most of the MAGA folks I speak to about Ukraine cannot be reasoned with and simply bloviate that Zelinsnkyy is just a “failed reality TV star.” Well, I can think of a failed reality TV star…
I am just amazed by all of the liberal hate and anger here….Ryan,Michaek,Jerry,San,JoeUnited,and on and on…..what is it about travel blogs and TDS!!!!!!!