Foreign travelers from seven additional countries are now required to pay up to $15,000 for a reimbursable bond when applying for a U.S. visitor visa, as the Trump administration continues to tighten entry requirements to the country.
As of Jan. 1, Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia and Turkmenistan are required to pay the assurances as part of a State Department pilot program launched in August. Thirteen countries are now affected by the program, most of them in Africa.
The bond deposits — which the department has said are aimed at deterring visitors from staying in the United States longer than they are allowed for business or tourism — range between $5,000 and $15,000, and do not guarantee that a visa will be issued. The payment will be refunded if visitors depart the U.S. within the time specified on their visas, according to the policy.
Applicants whose visas are approved can only enter the U.S. from three designated airports: Boston Logan International Airport, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport, the State Department notice said. The program is not applicable to those on student visas.
Travelers from 42 countries that are part of the visa waiver program — who don’t need a visa to enter the U.S. — including much of Europe, Australia, Qatar and Israel, are also exempt.
The administration has said the program is aimed at countries with high visa overstay rates, citing a Department of Homeland Security report to Congress. However, some of the countries newly added to the list have low overstay numbers. The department suspects that two of the 137 visitors from the Central African Republic (or about 2 percent) overstayed their nonimmigrant business and tourist visas in fiscal year 2024, while about 4 percent from Namibia are suspected of overstaying.
The pilot was launched in August with Malawi and Zambia. An estimated 234 visitors from Malawi (or 14 percent) overstayed their nonimmigrant visas in fiscal year 2023, as did 365 (11 percent) from Zambia. Four countries were added to the list in October.
For couples or families, the potential up-front cost of $10,000 or $15,000 per person could be prohibitive. At the time of its launch, the State Department predicted the year-long pilot program would cost travelers around $20 million, based on 2,000 potential travelers paying an average bond of $10,000.
The State Department had planned a six-month visa bond pilot in 2020, but did not implement it as global travel dwindled during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hannah Sampson contributed to this report.
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