South Sudan blames 'unfair' revocation of US visas on a mistaken nationality

07 April 2025

The government says the decision by the Trump administration is based on an incident that didn't involve one of its citizens but another African national.

South Sudan blames 'unfair' revocation of US visas on a mistaken nationality

South Sudan has criticized the revocation of US visas for all its nationals as unfair and said it was based on an incident that didn't involve one of its citizens but another African national.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the decision to revoke all visas for South Sudanese came because the country’s government failed to accept the return of its citizens being removed from the United States “in a timely manner.”

On Monday, South Sudan's Foreign Ministry said that the deportee who was denied entry on Friday was found to be a Congolese national and he was returned to the US and all supporting evidence shared with American officials.

“The government deeply regrets that despite this history of collaboration and partnership, South Sudan now faces a broad revocation of visas based on an isolated incident involving misrepresentation by an individual who is not a South Sudanese national,” it said in a statement.

TRT Global - Why are tensions flaring up in South Sudan?

Political mistrust, delayed elections and economic turmoil have pushed South Sudan to the brink of another protracted internal strife with ramifications far worse than what the suffering millions have already endured.