The following is a list of notable people who are or were barred from entering the United States. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) handles deportation in the United States, often in conjunction with advice from the U.S. Department of State.[1] Such bans are often temporary, depending on the circumstances of each case; however, anyone previously deported or denaturalized is automatically barred from re-entering the United States without a waiver issued by the U.S. Department of State.
| width=160 | Individual | width=140 | Nationality | width=220 | Occupation | width=550 | Reason(s) for ban |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Diplomat and envoy to the United Nations | Played a role as a translator for the militants who stormed the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 American citizens hostage for 444 days.[2] | |||||
 | Politician and former Vice President of Venezuela (2017-2018) | Allegations of major drug trafficking and ties to Hezbollah.[3] | |||||
 | 81st President of Nicaragua (1997-2002) | Political corruption scandals.[4] [5] | |||||
 | 68th Prime Minister of Syria (since 2020) | Continuous support for the Assad regime.[6] | |||||
 | Co-founder of WikiLeaks | Pleaded guilty for violating the Espionage Act.[7] | |||||
| Former ecstasy distributor turned YouTuber | After serving two years in Maricopa County Jail prior to sentencing, Attwood pleaded guilty for a sentence of nine and a half years, and served the balance of his sentence in the Arizona Department of Corrections. Banned from entering the United States for life following his return to the United Kingdom.[8] [9] | ||||||
 | 2nd President of Albania (1992-1997) and 32nd Prime Minister of Albania (2005-2013) | Involved in significant corruption, such as misappropriation of public funds and interfering with public processes, as well as enriching political allies and family members at the expense of the Albanian public.[10] [11] | |||||
 | Farmer and anti-globalist activist | Past prosecutions for "moral crimes".[12] [13] [14] | |||||
 | 38th President of Ecuador (1996-1997) | "Involvement in significant corruption, including misappropriation of public funds, accepting bribes, and interfering with public processes".[15] | |||||
 | Former Governor of Nayarit | Allegations of collaborating with drug dealers. | |||||
 | Former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (2011-2021); brother of Fidel Castro | Human rights violations and support for Nicolas Maduro's regime.[16] | |||||
| Singer | Drug-related arrests and convictions in the United Kingdom; denied entry in June 2010 after spending 10 hours in detention in New York's JFK Airport, despite having a visa.[17] | ||||||
| Businesswoman and daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos | "Significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit."[18] [19] [20] | ||||||
| Former member of Albanian Parliament (2005-2021) | Allegations of significant corruption.[21] | |||||
| Politician and former President of the Chamber of Deputies (2016-2019) | Involvement in significant corruption.[22] | ||||||
 | Military officer | Gross violations of human rights during the Bucha massacre | |||||
| Professional boxer | Connections to the Kinahan crime family.[23] | ||||||
| 51st President of Guatemala (2020-2024) | Allegations of “involvement in significant corruption” during his presidency, namely "accepting bribes in exchange for the performance of his public functions."[24] [25] | ||||||
| Zhu Hailun |  | Retired politician | Involvement in the Uyghur genocide.[26] [27] | ||||
| Min Aung Hlaing | Head of Burmese military junta (2021–present) | Involvement in the Rohingya genocide[28] | |||||
| Businessman & CEO of Meliá Hotels International | Having business interests in Cuba.[29] | ||||||
| Wife of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, media consultant | Visiting Somaliland as an independent country, which the United States does not recognize (viewing it as part of Somalia). Applicants under the electronic system for travel authorisation (ESTA) visa waiver programme, which allows Britons to spend up to 90 days in the US, are asked whether they have visited Somalia since March 2011.[30] [31] | ||||||
 | Rapid Support Forces commander | Ordering the assassination of Khamis Abakar, governor of West Darfur state during the War in Sudan (2023).[32] | |||||
| Head of the Chechen Republic (2007–present) | Violations of human rights, including torture and extrajudicial killings.[33] | |||||
 | Boxing promoter and crime boss | Suspected of involvement in organized crime.[34] | |||||
  | Former Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and businessman | Corruption and being a "threat to the Ukrainian public's faith in democratic institutions".[35] | |||||
| Former Australian rules footballer | Prior convictions relating to assault.[36] | |||||
| Chef, author and TV host of The Taste | Drug-related admission in the United Kingdom.[37] | ||||||
| Singer-songwriter | Alleged connections with the Brothers' Circle.[38] | |||||
| General Prosecutor of the Republic of Albania (2012-2017) | Involvement in significant corruption.[39] [40] | |||||
| Former Regional Commissioner of Dar es Salaam | "...involvement in gross violations of human rights, which include the flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons."[41] | ||||||
| Businessman | Accused of selling components for mustard gas and nerve gas to Iran in defiance of a US embargo.[42] [43] | |||||
 | Activist, politician | Accused the United States federal government of human rights violations, was due to testify at a tribunal in Washington, D.C.[44] [45] | |||||
| Involvement with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).[46] | |||||||
| Journalist, conspiracy theorist, and political activist | Active promotion of misinformation about the United States.[47] | |||||
 | Journalist and spokesman for Hezbollah | Links with Hezbollah.[48] | |||||
| Military officer | Gross violations of human rights during the Bucha massacre[49] | |||||
| President of Nicaragua (2007–present) | Repression of political opponents during the 2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests, reports of human rights abuses, and committing electoral fraud.[50] | |||||
 | Photojournalist | Name matches a "person of interest" on an unspecified U.S. federal law enforcement watch list.[51] | |||||
| Bilal Philips | Canada | Islamic scholar | Alleged links to terrorism and seeming to condone suicide bombers.[52] | ||||
| Businessman and former member of Parliament | Involvement in significant corruption.[53] | ||||||
| Former Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer | Terrorist activities, including involvement in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing.[54] | ||||||
| Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang (2016-2021) | Involvement in the persecution of Uyghurs in China.[55] [56] | |||||
| Politician and lawyer | Links with international terrorist organizations and subversive groups.[57] | |||||
 | Neo-Nazi, Neue Rechte and Identitarian activist | Links to the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.[58] | |||||
| Sri Lanka Army officer | Alleged war crimes in the Sri Lankan civil war.[59] | ||||||
 | Second governor of Nairobi County (2017-2020) | Involvement in significant corruption.[60] | |||||
| Environmental campaigner | Undisclosed reasons believed to be linked with his campaigning.[61] [62] | ||||||
| Businessman and son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher | Conviction in South Africa related to a coup plot.[63] | ||||||
| Comedian | Visa issues.[64] | ||||||
| 4th Attorney General of Kenya (1991-2011) | Allegations of "significant" corruption.[65] | |||||
| Wiranto |  | 5th Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council (since 2019) | Human rights violations and suspected war crimes.[66] | ||||
| Far-right activist | Robinson pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to using someone else's passport to travel to the United States in September 2012, and was sentenced in January 2013 to 10 months' imprisonment.[67] [68] |
| width=160 | Individual | width=220 | Nationality | width=250 | Occupation | width=550 | Reason(s) for ban | width=300 | Ban lifted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singer | Criminal record, including assault charges on paparazzi.[69] [70] | 2008[71] | |||||||
| Politician, Irish republican president of Sinn Féin | Refusing to renounce violence during The Troubles. | January 1994; President Bill Clinton, on recommendation from congressional Democrats and the National Security Council (despite opposition from the British government and the State Department), granted Adams a 48-hour visa to attend a conference in New York City to negotiate an IRA truce during the peace process. Adams would visit the U.S. on several further occasions.[72] [73] [74] [75] | |||||||
| Mathangi Arulpragasam (a.k.a. M.I.A.) | Rapper | Supporting the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), where her father was one of the founders. [76] | 2017[77] | ||||||
| Soldier | Participation in the Nanjing Massacre.[78] | 2006 (deceased) | |||||||
| Military officer and politician | Human rights violations and committing electoral fraud.[79] | 1973 (deceased) | ||||||
| Professional wrestler | Attempted to enter the country without the correct working visa in place.[80] | 2022 | ||||||
 | Publisher and businessman | Mail fraud and obstruction of justice convictions.[81] [82] | 2019, after President Donald Trump granted him a presidential pardon.[83] [84] | ||||||
| Nazi microbiologist and scientist | Involvement with human experimentation in Nazi Germany.[85] | 1969 (deceased) | |||||||
| Rapper | Alleged links to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.[86] [87] | 2013[88] | ||||||
 | Affiliation with Allende and opposition to Chilean military dictatorship; barred from entering in 1983 after an invitation by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco on the basis that "her entry to make various public appearances and speeches has been determined to be prejudicial to U.S. interests".[89] | 2009 (deceased) | |||||||
| Archaeologist | Having Marxist beliefs.[90] | 1957 (deceased) | ||||||
| Professional tennis player | Not meeting COVID-19 entry requirements, while not being vaccinated for COVID-19. Vaccine waiver request was denied by Department of Homeland Security.[91] | 2023[92] | |||||||
| Vice-President of Sinn Féin | Criminal convictions and having connections with the IRA.[93] | 1976 (deceased) | |||||||
| Rapper | Couldn’t or didn’t prove that he was living in the U.S. prior to 1972, despite records showing he arrived in the country prior to 1972.[94] [95] [96] | 2020 (deceased) | |||||||
| Drug-related conviction in the United Kingdom.[97] | 2011[98] | ||||||||
 | Former federal deputy for the State of Rio de Janeiro (1995-2011) | Considered a terrorist for his role in the kidnapping of American ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick. | 2009[99] | ||||||
| Boxer | 1961 conviction for drunken driving and assault indictments.[100] | 2023 (deceased) | ||||||
| Artist and writer | Issues of moral turpitude.[101] | 2010 (deceased) | |||||||
| Singer | Apparent links to terrorism.[102] [103] [104] [105] | December 2006 | |||||||
| Singer | Allegedly having close associations with drug trafficking, illicit arms trading, and Russian mafia in Moscow. | 2018 (deceased)[106] [107] [108] [109] [110] | |||||||
| Nazi German bureaucrat and diplomat | Participation in the Holocaust | 1982 (deceased)[111] | |||||||
 | Revolutionary, anti-apartheid dissident, leader of African National Congress, later first post-apartheid President of South Africa | Banned after the apartheid regime of South Africa designated the ANC as a terrorist organization in 1960, requiring Mandela to receive a waiver from the U.S. Secretary of State to visit the United States. | 2008, after President George W. Bush signed an act to formally lift it.[112] | ||||||
 | Former soccer player and coach | Various criminal convictions in Italy, Argentina, Croatia and other countries.[113] [114] [115] | 2020 (deceased) | ||||||
 | Novelist and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1982. | Banned from the U.S. due to his ties to the Colombian Communist Party in the 1950s and later for his fondness for Fidel Castro.[116] | 1995 by President Bill Clinton, who happened to be an admirer of the writer and would dine with him in 1996. | ||||||
| Professional wrestler | Caught using a travel visa instead of a work visa to work independent shows.[117] [118] | 2023[119] | ||||||
 | Former Chief Minister of Gujarat and current Prime Minister of India | Involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots; banned in 2005.[120] | 2014, due to diplomatic status per United Nations policy when elected Prime Minister of India. Hosted as a state guest by the United States in 2023.[121] [122] | ||||||
| Writer and environmentalist | Having communist sympathies. | 1990[123] | ||||||
 | Journalist and poet | Undisclosed reasons[124] | 2019 (deceased) | ||||||
 | Marxist philosopher | Criminal charges and involvement in the Moro case.[125] | 2023 (deceased) | ||||||
| Singer and fashion designer | Criminal convictions in the United States in 2006 and the United Kingdom in 2008.[126] [127] [128] [129] | 2014[130] | |||||||
| Major League Baseball player (relief pitcher) | Involvement in an immigration marriage fraud ring in the Dominican Republic between 2004-2005.[131] | 2010[132] | |||||||
| Pogo | | Electronic music artist/producer | Did not have necessary work visa.[133] | 2021[134] | |||||
| Academic, educator and author (Western Muslims and the Future of Islam) | Gave money to Hamas. | 2010[135] | |||||||
| Doctor and former member of the SS | Accused of sending more than 900 disabled patients to their deaths under the Nazi euthanasia program during the Holocaust.[136] | 2010 (deceased) | |||||||
| President-elect of Indonesia (assumes office on October 24, 2024) and retired army general | Alleged human rights abuses.[137] [138] [139] [140] | 2020[141] | ||||||
 | Lawyer | Corruption[142] | 2023 (deceased) | ||||||
| Writer and publisher | Undisclosed reasons.[143] [144] | 2013[145] | |||||||
| Diplomat and politician, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and President of Austria (1986–1992) | Nazi affiliations and activities during World War II, deemed persona non grata.[146] | 2007 (deceased) | ||||||
| Singer | Drug and assault convictions in the United Kingdom.[147] | 2011 (deceased) |