According to the Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual:
"INA 221(c) and INA 281 require the Department to set visa validity, number of entries, and fees for nationals of a country based on what that country provides to U.S. citizens for the same purpose of travel. The goal of visa reciprocity is to obtain visa regimes consistent with U.S. laws, regulations, and national interests and to encourage international travel that benefits U.S. travelers and business."
The Department of State maintains online visa reciprocity schedules for each country for which it issues visas. For additional background on visa reciprocity, see the Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual at 9 FAM 403.8.
On or about July 11, 2025 the Department of State reduced the visa validity parameters for many nonimmigrant visas issued after that date to 3 months and only a single entry. NAFSA checked the DOS visa reciprocity tables in the B, F, H, J, M, and O visa categories, and found the following, as of of July 15, 2025. Note that this is a snapshot as of July 15, 2025. Some countries with limitations may have had those limitations prior to July 11, 2025. Check the country link to view the current Department of State reciprocity table for that country.
List of countries
Where a country is listed without parentheticals, all B, F, H, J, M, and O visa categories are listed with 3 months and only a single entry on that country's reciprocity schedule. Countries with parentheticals indicate variability for that country. Visas that had been issued prior to any reciprocity change should not be affected and would retain their validity as issued.
- Afghanistan *
- Angola
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Burkina Faso
- Burma/Myanmar *
- Burundi **
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia - (H = 1 month / 1 entry; B, F, J, M, O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Cameroon
- Chad *
- China - (O visas only = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Comoros - (H, J, O visas only = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Cote D'Ivoire
- Congo, Republic of *
- Congo, Democratic Republic of - (M = 1 month / 1 entry; B, F, J, M, O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Cuba **
- Eritrea *
- Ethiopia
- Equatorial Guinea *
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau (H = 3 months / 1 entry; O = 3 months / multiple entry)
- Haiti *
- Iran *
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos ** (F-1 = "6 months, multiple entry visas - $40.00 /or 3 months single entry visas - no fee; B, F-2, J, M, O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Libya * (O = 1 month / 1 entry; B, F, J, and M = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Papua New Guinea (B-2 = 6 months / 1 entry; O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Madagascar (B limited to 3 months / multiple entries; F, H, J, M, O limited to 3 months / 1 entry)
- Malawi
- Micronesia (B, F, and M l = 3 months / 2 entries; J, H, and O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Nauru (B-2 only = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Palau (B, F, and M = 3 months / 2 entries; J, H, and O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Sierra Leone **
- Somalia *
- South Sudan
- Sudan *
- Syria (B, F, J, M = 3 months / multiple entries; H and O l = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Tanzania
- Timor-Leste (B, F, and M = 3 months / 2 entries; J, H, and O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Togo **
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan ** (B, F, J, M, H, O have tiered fee schedules that impact duration and number of entries)
- Tuvalu (B-1 = 1 month / 1 entry; B-2, F, H, J, M, O = 3 months / 1 entry)
- Uganda
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela **
- Yemen *
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Notes
Presidential Proclamation 10949 of June 4, 2025: Restricting The Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats established a "full" travel ban on 12 countries and a "partial" travel ban on 7 countries, effective June 9, 2025. And so, even if there is a reciprocity schedule for a visa type covered by the ban, individuals would have to qualify for a rare waiver of the travel ban in order to be issued a visa. See NAFSA's page. These "travel ban" countries are indicated in the above list as follows:
* These 12 countries are currently subject to a full ban that suspends entry into the United States in all immigrant and nonimmigrant categories.
** These 7 countries a currently subject to a partial ban that suspends entry into the United States as immigrants and of nonimmigrants "B-1, B‑2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas." For each of the partial ban countries listed, the proclamation also directed consular officers to "reduce the validity for any other nonimmigrant visa ... to the extent permitted by law."
Note also that a fair number of the other countries listed also appeared in a purported DOS cable obtained by the media that identified countries being considered for an expansion of a travel ban, although it is unclear if there is any relationship between the reciprocity changes to that purported cable. See NAFSA's page Possible Expansion of Travel Ban.