The United States Department of State has elevated 23 nations to its strictest travel advisory category, known as Level 4. An official announcement posted on the agency’s TravelGov X account on Saturday explicitly discouraged American citizens from visiting these locations for any reason.
A Level 4 rating is reserved for countries where significant security threats exist or where the US government lacks the capacity to offer adequate support to its citizens. The department emphasized that these regions are hazardous, stating that the advisory is based on both local instability and limited diplomatic reach.
The complete list of restricted countries includes Afghanistan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya. Additionally, the list contains Mali, Niger, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine, and Yemen.
This update follows recent department guidance concerning Nigeria, which remains under a Level 3 advisory. While the US government advises citizens to reconsider travel to Nigeria generally, it has applied a Level 4 warning specifically to several Nigerian states due to persistent security challenges.