Donald Trump will sign a new travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries on Monday after federal courts blocked his last order.
The President's revised list leaves off Iraq but will reinstate a 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to senior aide Kellyanne Conway.
The suspension of the entire US refugee programme for 120-days would be kept under the new order, according to Reuters, with the indefinite bar on refugees from Syria removed.
Conway told Fox News the new executive order would not take effect until March 16 to avoid the havoc caused at airports after the last immigration ban was signed on January 27.
It comes after more than two dozen lawsuits were filed against the previous order with it eventually overturned for violating US constitutional protections against religious discrimination.
Iraq was taken off the list because it had imposed new vetting procedures, such as heightened visa screening and data sharing, and because of its work fighting ISIS alongside the United States, a White House official said according to Reuters.
Tens of thousands of legal permanent residents in the United States - or green card holders - from the banned listed countries would not be affected by the travel order, the official added.
During the presidential election campaign last year, Trump called for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States. He justified his initial executive order issued just a week after he took office saying it was needed to head off attacks by Islamist militants.
However, the White House official said the new order was based on national security considerations and had nothing to do with religion.
"It is substantially different from the first order yet it will do the same thing in this important way: It will protect the country and keep us safe," the official said. The administration also would reset the clock on the 90-day travel ban.
The official said US government agencies would determine whether Syria or other nations had made sufficient security improvements to be taken back into the refugee admissions program.
The new order launches a 90-day period for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to define a new series of requirements for countries to have full participation in U.S. entry programs.
For countries that do not comply, the US State Department, the DHS and intelligence agencies can make recommendations on what, if any, restrictions should be imposed.
"It's not an all-or-nothing scenario," the official said.
The new order spells out detailed categories of people eligible to enter the United States, such as for business or medical travel, or people with family connections or who support the United States.
"There are a lot of explicit carve-outs for waivers and given on a case-by-case basis," the official said.
Many of Trump's supporters approved of the initial ban but critics said it was unjustified and discriminatory.
US technology firms who had employees affected by the executive order also complained, and some members of Trump's Cabinet urged him to remove Iraqis and green card holders from the list of those affected.
The White House was widely criticised for not working with the State Department, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and allies in Congress in drawing up the initial ban.
The confusion that caused led to a weekend of chaos, legal wrangling and protests in cities and at major airports across the United States.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
