Arrival Restrictions Applicable to Flights Carrying Persons Who Have Recently Traveled From or Were Otherwise Present Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, or South Sudan

What it does

This document announces the decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security to direct all flights to the United States carrying persons who have recently traveled from, or were otherwise present within, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, or South Sudan to arrive at the U.S. airport where the U.S. government is focusing public health resources to implement enhanced public health measures. For purposes of this document, a person has recently traveled from the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan if that person has departed from, or was otherwise present within, the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of the date of the person's entry or attempted entry into the United States. Also, for purposes of this document, crew and flights carrying only cargo (i.e., no passengers or non-crew), are excluded from the measures herein.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

Compared with

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has published 16 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 14 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

The arrival restrictions apply to flights departing after 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. Arrival restrictions continue until cancelled or modified by the Secretary of Homeland Security and notice of such cancellation or modification is published in the Federal Register.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket USCBP-2026-0562 on Regulations.gov

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register