The US State Department has proposed a rule that would make some business and tourist visa applicants pay a bond of up to $15,000.
The rule would apply to people from countries with high visa overstay rates and poor document security, and will be tested in a 12-month trial program.
According to a report by CNN, the pilot program will apply to citizens of specific countries that the department identifies as having high rates of visa overstays or insufficient systems for verifying identity. The bond requirement, which could be $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, would serve as a financial guarantee to encourage compliance with visa terms.
Pilot Program Details
A preview of the proposed rule was posted on the Federal Register website on Monday, with official publication scheduled for Tuesday. The program is expected to begin within 15 days of publication. The bond would be required at the time of visa application and is geared to reduce financial risk to the US government if a visitor remains in the country beyond their permitted stay.
The notice states: “Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure and who are nationals of countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering citizenship by investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot program.”
The list of affected countries will be released once the program is implemented. Waivers of the bond requirement may be granted based on an individual applicant’s circumstances.
Changes in Broader Visa Policy
The bond requirement, as stated, is part of changes to the US visa system under the Trump administration. Last week, the State Department announced that more visa renewal applicants would be required to attend in-person interviews, a step that had previously been waived in many cases.
The department has also proposed changes to the Diversity Visa Lottery program, requiring applicants to hold a valid passport from their country of citizenship. These actions show efforts by the administration to increase screening and tighten entry conditions for foreign nationals.
Visa Waiver Program Not Affected
The proposed bond requirement will not apply to citizens of countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Program. That program allows travellers from 42 countries to visit the United States for business or tourism without a visa for up to 90 days. Most of these countries are in Europe, with others located in Asia, the Middle East, and other regions.
According to the State Department, this pilot program does not impact travellers from Visa Waiver Program countries.
The pilot is specifically targeted at addressing overstays and documentation challenges associated with other countries.
While visa bonds have been discussed in the past, they have not previously been put into practice. The State Department had historically opposed them, citing the difficulty of managing the bond process and concerns over how the requirement might be perceived by the public.
However, the department noted that there is no recent evidence to support its earlier concerns. The pilot program will serve as a test to evaluate the feasibility and impact of requiring bonds on a limited scale before any further application is considered.
