The Trump administration is planning to add Nigeria, along with six other countries to its travel ban list.
According to U.S. media reports on Tuesday, other countries to be affected are Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania.
Under the current version of the ban, citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as some Venezuelan officials and their relatives are blocked from obtaining a large range of U.S. immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
Under the extended ban, Nigeria and some countries will face bans only on some visa categories, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The list of countries was not final and could yet change, website Politico said.
President Donald Trump said in an interview with WSJ that he was considering adding countries to the travel ban, but declined to state which ones.
Politico said an announcement was expected as early as Monday.
A senior Trump administration official said that countries that failed to comply with security requirements, including biometrics, information-sharing and counter-terrorism measures, faced the risk of limitations on U.S. immigration.
Chad was previously covered under the existing ban but was removed in April 2018.
Citizens of the countries can apply for waivers to the ban, but they are exceedingly rare.
Current ban affects:
Iran: 99.4% Muslim
Libya : 96.6% Muslim
North Korea: not recorded
Somalia: Large majority Muslim
Syria: 87% Muslim, 10% Christian
Yemen: 99.1% Muslim
Countries being considered for ban
Belarus: 43.8% Orthodox, 7.1% Catholic
Eritrea: believed Muslim majority, large Christian minority
Kyrgyzstan: 90% Muslim, 7% Christian
Myanmar: 87.9% Buddhist, 6.2% Christian
Nigeria: 53.5% Muslim, 45.9% Christian
Sudan: Large majority Muslim
Tanzania: 61.4% Christian, 35.2% Muslim
