Order Code RS21003
Updated January 28, 2003
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Travel Restrictions: U.S. Government Limits
on American Citizens’ Travel Abroad
Susan B. Epstein
Specialist in Foreign Policy and Trade
Dianne E. Rennack
Specialist in Foreign Policy Legislation
Foreign Policy, Defense, and Trade Division
Summary
The U.S. government currently maintains limitations or restrictions on travel to
four countries: Cuba, Libya, Iraq, and North Korea. This paper briefly outlines the
nature of such restrictions, who administers them and why, and compares the restrictions
among the four targeted countries.
The U.S. government limits the use of passports, currency, and/or transportation
alternatives, when American citizens seek to travel to four countries – Cuba, Iraq, Libya,
and North Korea. The methods of restricting travel include requiring a license to travel
to a specified country, limiting or prohibiting transactions in which a traveler may engage
while in a targeted country, prohibiting the use of American passports to travel to or
through a targeted country, or limiting the means of transportation to a targeted country.
The Departments of Treasury and State are the lead agencies that implement such
restrictions. On rare occasions, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) becomes involved by prohibiting landing rights to U.S. air carriers
traveling to, from, or through a targeted country.
U.S. government officials assert that U.S. policies do not amount to restricting
American citizens from traveling to any foreign destination, a position some observers
believe is designed to avoid a debate over the constitutionality of limits on Americans’
travel rights. Others contend that those rights are indirectly abridged by limitations on the
tools required to travel – primarily transportation, expenditure of currency, and passports.
The Role of the President
The President has declared a state of national emergency exists for each of the four
countries against which the United States has imposed some travel-related restrictions.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Declaration of a state of national emergency grants the President significant power to
curtail or prohibit trade, transactions, and exchanges with a targeted country.1 The
President might declare that a state of national emergency exists for a variety of reasons
including: an unfavorable change in government in the targeted country and a resulting
change in bilateral relations, as in the case of Cuba in 1961; or armed conflict, as in the
case of North Korea in 1950, or Iraq in 1990. For Libya, restrictions on passports,
imposed in 1981, preceded the declaration of a national state of emergency, declared in
1986, but was part of a series of events between the two countries including the burning
of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli in 1979, the official closing of the U.S. Embassy in 1980,
extraterritorial assassinations of Libyan nationals in Europe in 1980, and the exchange of
fire between U.S. and Libyan military aircraft in 1981.
The Department of the Treasury
When the President declares a national emergency exists in relation to a country, he
has the option of restricting financial transactions with that country. The Department of
the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers the aspects of
economic sanctions imposed for foreign policy or national security reasons. OFAC may
prohibit or limit transactions related to travel agents, air carriers, shipping, and any other
travel-related service provider. OFAC issues licenses authorizing Americans to engage
in transactions with or in certain countries, thus controlling the ability of U.S. citizens to
spend money to get to, spend time in, or move about a targeted country.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control currently restricts the transactions in which
American citizens may engage with Cuba, North Korea, Iraq, and Libya.
The Department of State
The Act of July 3, 1926, as amended,2 authorizes the Secretary of State to grant and
issue passports. The law also prohibits restricting travel with a U.S. passport unless such
1 Prior to 1977, the President invoked the authority granted his office under the Trading With
the Enemy Act (TWEA) to declare a state of national emergency and thus to limit transactions
– including those associated with travel – to Cuba and North Korea. Since 1977, the President
has made use of the authority stated in the National Emergencies Act (NEA) and the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare a state of national emergency and to limit
transactions with targeted countries – including Libya and Iraq. Restrictions issued under the
TWEA are grandfathered into the IEEPA; thus restrictions under all four countries are subject
to the terms of the NEA and IEEPA. The National Emergencies Act, P.L. 94-412, may be found
at 50 U.S.C. 1601. In the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, P.L. 95-223, sec.
101(b) grandfathers the restrictions imposed under the TWEA into the newer acts (50 U.S.C.
App. 5 note), and sec. 203 and following states the President’s new authority and responsibilities
(50 U.S.C. 1702 et seq.)
The President also uses the authority granted his office in the IEEPA to implement United
Nations Security Council resolutions. On occasion, such resolutions have required limiting or
prohibiting citizens from traveling to, through or from a targeted country.
2 22 U.S.C. 211a. In Executive Order 11295 (August 5, 1966; 31 F.R. 10603), the President
expanded the Secretary’s authority to issue “rules governing the granting, issuing, and verifying
of passports.”

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travel is to a country “with which the United States is at war, where armed hostilities are
in progress, or where there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety
of United States travelers.”
The Secretary of State currently maintains restrictions on the use of U.S. passports
for most travel to, in, or through Libya (since1981) and Iraq (since 1991).3
The Secretary exercises the same authority to highlight areas considered dangerous
for U.S. travelers. The State Department issues travel warnings and public
announcements as recommendations to American travelers to avoid a particular country
or region. It issues public announcements to emphasize short-term concerns, including
coups, bomb threats to airlines, violence by terrorists, and anniversary dates of specific
terrorist events. The Department issues travel warnings when it decides that the longer-
term political climate of a country is dangerous to American travelers. The State
Department currently maintains travel warnings for 26 countries, and public
announcements for another 15 countries.4 The State Department also has issued a series
of Worldwide Cautions, the most recent posted on November 20, 2002, “to alert U.S.
citizens to the need to remain vigilant and to remind them of the continuing threat of
terrorist actions that may target civilians.” Although a Worldwide Caution, travel
warning, or public announcement does not prohibit or restrict international travel, it can
have a chilling effect on a U.S. citizen’s interests in travel if such activity creates a
possibility that he or she “may be targeted for kidnapping or assassination.”5
Restrictions by Country
Travel and transactions by American citizens are currently restricted in regard to four
countries – Cuba, Iraq, Libya, and North Korea. (For a quick comparison, see Table 1,
below.) Following are details on the current travel restrictions on American citizens, as
well as exceptions, for each of these countries.
3 Libya: Initiated in Department of State Public Notice 787 (46 F.R. 60712), renewed annually
by similar public notices. Iraq: initiated in Department of State Public Notice 1341 (56 F.R.
5242), renewed annually in similar public notices.
4 Current lists of countries under travel warnings or public announcement status may be found
at [http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html].
5 Department of State. Worldwide Caution. November 20, 2002, to continue to May 20, 2003.

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Table 1. Current U.S. Government Travel Restrictions,
by Country
In-Country
U.S. Passport
Transportation
U.S. Diplomatic
Expenditures
Use Prohibited
Restrictions
Relations
Prohibited/Limited
No U.S. Embassy;
U.S. Interests
Cuba
X
X
Section, Swiss
Embassy.
No U.S. embassy;
U.S. Interests
Iraq
X
X
X
Section, Polish
Embassy.
No U.S. Embassy;
U.S. Interests
Libya
X
X
X
Section, Belgian
Embassy.
No U.S. Embassy;
North
Protection

X
X
Korea
provided by
Swedish Embassy.
Cuba. The United States imposed its first economic sanctions on Cuba in 1959 by
limiting the amount of sugar to be imported into the United States, and by prohibiting
arms sales to that country, in an attempt to isolate the government led by Fidel Castro.
In 1963, the U.S. government first prohibited U.S. citizens from engaging in most
transactions that would result in U.S. dollars ending up in the hands of the Cuban
government, essentially prohibiting travel to that country. While the U.S. government did
not restrict the use of passports, it eliminated direct flights and required licenses to spend
money to travel to Cuba or to subsist while there. For a brief period, 1977-1982,
President Carter lifted the travel ban, authorizing the Office of Foreign Assets Control to
issue general licenses for travel-related expenses, and resumed the authorization of direct
flights. President Reagan, however, reimposed many restrictions, although the new
regulations allowed travel by certain categories of individuals and direct charter flights.
Over the past 20 years, the range of travel possibilities under a general or specific license
has changed somewhat.6
U.S. passports are valid in Cuba. The Department of the Treasury, however, requires
that Americans travel there under a license, either a general or specific license, depending
on the nature of the visit. Travel is, generally speaking, limited to the following: family
visits, official U.S. government business, journalistic activities, professional research,
educational activities, religious activities, date-specific cultural activities (i.e., sports
competitions or exhibitions), support for the Cuban people (as encouraged in the Cuban
6 For fuller discussion and chronology, see CRS Report RL31139, Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on
Travel and Legislative Initiatives,
by Mark P. Sullivan. See also [http://www.treas.gov/ofac].

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Democracy Act of 1994), humanitarian projects, private foundations or research or
educational work, activities related to the exchange of informational materials, work
related to U.S.-controlled foreign-owned firms, or work related to the commercial sale of
agricultural commodities.7 For most of these, OFAC must approve travel before it occurs.
In any one-year period, no more than $500 may be paid in fees levied by the Cuban
government to travel to that country. While in Cuba, a U.S. traveler’s daily expenses may
not exceed $166 per day, based on State Department per diem calculations for Havana
(less elsewhere in the country), and a traveler may bring back not more than $100 in
goods, for personal use, in any 6-month period. Travel agents, air carriers, and all others
involved in arranging travel to Cuba, must be licensed by OFAC. In 1998, OFAC
authorized direct charter flights out of Miami. In 1999, the State Department announced
that direct flights to Cuba could also originate out of Los Angeles and New York.
Congress further restricted travel when it enacted the Trade Sanctions Reform and
Export Enhancement Act of 2000.8 That Act rescinds OFAC’s ability to issue licenses
to persons other than those who strictly qualify under 12 categories stated in current
regulations.
Iraq. Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in the fall of 1990, the President declared
a national emergency existed in relation to Iraq and imposed unilateral comprehensive
sanctions. The United Nations Security Council followed shortly thereafter with a
multilateral sanctions regime.9 The Executive Order authorized OFAC to restrict all
transactions related to travel to Iraq. Subsequently, the use of a U.S. passport for travel
to, in, or through Iraq, unless validated by the Department of State, was prohibited
effective February 1, 1991. Regulations issued by OFAC to implement the President’s
Executive Order simply state that “Except as otherwise authorized, no U.S. person may
engage in any transaction relating to travel by any U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien
to Iraq...” Regulations allow for the departure of U.S. citizens and resident aliens from
Iraq and Kuwait, and travel of journalists and U.S. government officials to Iraq. All
expenses related to traveling to Iraq require an OFAC license or exemption.

Libya. U.S.-Libya relations soured when the Libyan military, led by Muammar
Qadhafi, overthrew the ruling royal family in 1969. After a series of violent encounters
between the two countries, including the burning of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli in 1979
and an exchange of fire between U.S. and Libyan military forces in 1981, the Secretary
of State announced that U.S. passports would not be valid for travel to or through Libya.
In 1986, after determining that Libya played a role in deadly attacks on civilians in
European airports, the President declared that a national emergency existed in relation to
that country, and prohibited most transactions between the two nations.10 OFAC issued
7 31 CFR 515.560 and, for that relating to agricultural sales, see § 910 of P.L. 106-387 (114 Stat.
1549A-71).
8 Title IX of P.L. 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-67.
9 Executive Order 12722 (55 31803; August 2, 1990), and resulting regulations at 31 CFR Part
575.
10 Executive Order 12543 (51 F.R. 875; January 7, 1986), and resulting regulations at 31 CFR
(continued...)

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regulations to prohibit, among other things, all transactions relating to transportation to
or from Libya or the provision of such transportation. Regulations issued later in 1986
authorize persons under jurisdiction of the U.S. government to travel to and from Libya,
and spend money to cover personal requirements, if they were immediate family members
of Libyan nationals and if they registered with the U.S. government. Regulations issued
in 1999 to implement President Clinton’s authorization of food and medicine sales to
previously restricted countries allow U.S. persons negotiating contracts for the sale of
food, medicine, or medical equipment to travel to Libya under a specific license issued
by OFAC, provided the traveler also obtains a passport license required by the State
Department.11
North Korea. Restrictions between North Korea and the United States continue
from mid-1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea, a conflict that engaged the
United States as part of a U.N. peacekeeping force, 1950-1953. Today, the U.S.
government has no official policy prohibiting travel by American citizens to North Korea
and U.S. passports are valid there. A few U.S. government-imposed obstacles, however,
limit travel. The U.S. government does not maintain diplomatic relations with North
Korea, though some support is available through the Embassy of Sweden. The State
Department does not write letters for American citizens to obtain a visa to enter North
Korea, documents that the North Korean government requires. Rather, Americans
traveling to North Korea must apply for a visa from China for entry into China and North
Korea. Transactions related to travel to and in the country have been allowed since 1995.
The purchase of merchandise in North Korea, however, is still limited to $100 per person
for personal use, and authorized only once every six months. No other transactions are
allowed.12 The North Korean government also imposes travel limitations, permitting
entry only to U.S. tourists who are in officially organized groups that are authorized by
North Korea.
10 (...continued)
Part 550.
11 31 CFR 550.573 (64 F.R. 41791; August 2, 1999).
12 Transaction-related regulations: 31 CFR 500.563 (60 F.R. 8935; February 16, 1995).