US to make visa bond requirements permanent, affecting mostly African countries

Washington: The State Department is making permanent a pilot program under which citizens from 50 countries, mainly in Africa, are required to post bonds to apply for a U.S. visa, and it’s raising the cost as well, to as much as $20,000. A draft notice published Friday in the Federal Register says a nearly year-long review "provided sufficient data” to suggest the bond program effectively enforces compliance with visa conditions, and would be made permanent. The notice is to be formally released on Monday, the day the program becomes permanent, and additional countries may be added to the list, which can be found here. The pilot program set the maximum bond amount at $15,000, with lower amounts of $5,000 and $10,000 based on a consular officer’s discretion. The final regulation raises the maximum to $20,000 and removes the $5,000 low-end payment. The program requires holders of passports from the affected countries to pay the bond to be interviewed for business and tourist visas - known as B1 and B2 visas - to travel to the United States. The bond is refunded if the visa application is denied or, if granted, if the person adheres to the visa terms. The Trump administration rolled out the program last August to crack down on visa overstays and as part of its broader efforts to curtail illegal migration. The government estimates that arresting and deporting visitors who have overstayed their visa costs about $18,000 per person. State Department officials have hailed the program as a great success. In 2024, nearly 45,500 visitors from the 50 countries in the program overstayed their visas, according to the notice. In the first 10 months of the pilot visa bond program, the number of overstays from those countries was fewer than 50, it said. Critics have said it imposes an unnecessarily harsh burden on people from impoverished countries to visit family members or to pursue education or business opportunities in the U.S. According to government projections and statistics from the first year of the program, the State Department initially expected that about 2,000 visa applicants would be required to post the bond. Instead, the department found that roughly 20,000 applicants were covered by the bond requirement. Nearly half of those applicants chose not to pay the bond and there was an 83% decline in the number of business and tourist visas issued to citizens of countries on the list. "The department expects that this final rule will contribute to the continued reduction of demand for B1/B2 visa applications from nationals of countries subject to the program,” the notice said.