The Trump administration is once again making it harder for foreign nationals seeking to visit the United States.
On 18MAR, the US government announced it will expand a visa bond program requiring some visitors to pay up to $15,000, adding 12 more countries to the list. The program, previously reported by Open Jaw, applies to leisure and business travellers seeking five-and-ten-year B-1 or B-2 visas from countries with high visa overstay rates.
With the additional countries, the visa bond requirement now covers 50 countries in total.
The newly added countries are:
- Cambodia
- Ethiopia
- Georgia
- Grenada
- Lesotho
- Mauritius
- Mongolia
- Mozambique
- Nicaragua
- Papua New Guinea
- Seychelles
- Tunisia
The expanded visa bond program, which requires foreign nationals from some countries to pay up to USD 15,000 for a B1 or B2 visa for business or tourism, goes into effect on 02APR. It aims to reduce the number of visitors who overstay their visas, Reuters reports.
The amount of the bond is not fixed at $15,000; applicants may be required to pay $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, depending on their consular interview, according to Visasnews.com.
The complete list of affected countries can be found here.
A Trump administration official told Reuters the bonds will be refunded to visa recipients who return home in compliance with the terms of their visa and bond, or who do not travel in the first place.
A US government website says visa holders who post a bond must enter and exit the country through designated ports of entry.
“A bond does not guarantee visa issuance. If someone pays fees without a consular officer’s direction, the fees will not be returned," reads the US Department of State directive.
In its reporting, Reuters noted: “Since taking office last January, Trump, a Republican, has pursued a hard-line immigration policy, including an aggressive deportation drive, revocations of visas and green cards, and screens of social media posts and past speeches of immigrants."
Most of the countries in the program are those listed under a ‘partial travel ban’ on foreign nationals in December, as reported by Open Jaw which clearly points to the goal of being an added deterrent to visiting the US.
