AI Generated Image (not the contestants in this story)
The Miss Universe travel ban fallout has reached the stage itself: contestants from Zambia and the Republic of Congo have withdrawn from the 75th Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico after failing to obtain U.S. visas, the Associated Press reported on Nov. 13. Two more African delegates, from South Sudan and Zimbabwe, were still waiting on visas days before the Nov. 21 national costume round, and both of their countries sit on the list of nations covered by the presidential entry restrictions that took effect on Jan. 1.
Zambia’s organizers said their representative, Mubanga Pamela Hatyoka, “earned her crown,” according to the AP, and Congo’s organizers tied the absence of Georgina Kambongo, the country’s first Miss Universe delegate, solely to the U.S. restrictions. South Sudan’s Adut Deng and Zimbabwe’s Roseanna Hall had not received visas. The AP reported no comment from the State Department or the Miss Universe Organization. The winner is to be crowned on Nov. 24.
Why the Miss Universe travel ban reaches Puerto Rico
The Immigration and Nationality Act defines the “United States” to include Puerto Rico. A foreign national flying to San Juan needs the same visa as one landing in New York, so a presidential suspension of entry under section 212(f) of the act applies there exactly as it does on the mainland.
The governing order is the proclamation President Trump signed on Dec. 16, 2025, which reached 39 countries. It kept the full suspension of entry that a June 2025 proclamation had imposed on the Republic of Congo and 11 other countries, added full suspensions for seven more, including South Sudan, and placed partial restrictions on 15 additional countries, among them Zambia and Zimbabwe. The proclamation rests on national security grounds, pointing to screening and information-sharing deficiencies and visa overstay rates in the affected countries.
For a short trip, the line between full and partial matters less than it appears. A partial suspension leaves work visas and most other temporary categories available, but it bars B-1 and B-2 visitor visas, along with F, M and J student and exchange visas and immigrant visas. Visitor status is the usual route to a short international event, which is why Zambia’s contestant, from a partially restricted country, ended up in the same position as Congo’s.
The exception pageants don’t fit
The restrictions carry a built-in exception for athletes, coaches and support staff traveling for the World Cup, the Olympics or another major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State. A beauty pageant is not a sporting event, so its contestants are left with a discretionary, case-by-case exception for travel that serves a U.S. national interest. Whether any was requested for these delegates has not been made public.
South Sudan’s delegate faces a second hurdle that has drawn less notice. A separate federal public health order bars entry by anyone other than U.S. citizens and nationals who was in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Uganda during the previous 21 days. That Ebola order was renewed through Dec. 10. A national-interest visa exception would not, by itself, clear it if she travels directly from home.
The episode fits a year of overlapping visa bans and pauses and cases like the refusal of a visa to a South Korean lawmaker, in which a public, invited trip earned no special treatment. The practical effect for international organizers is that choosing a U.S. host city, territories included, now means checking delegate lists against the 39-country roster months ahead, with no assurance that an exception will come.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice.
Sources
- Associated Press, US visa restrictions force some African contestants out of Miss Universe competition (Nov. 13, 2026, via ABC News)
- The White House, Proclamation: Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States (Dec. 16, 2025)
- 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(38), definition of “United States”
- 8 U.S.C. 1182(f), presidential suspension of entry
- CDC/HHS, Order Continuing the Suspension of the Right to Introduce Certain Persons (signed Nov. 9, 2026)
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