U.S. Tightens Visa Rules with Bond Requirement for Select Countries

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has proposed that applicants for business and tourist visas may be required to provide a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States – a move that, according to the Associated Press (AP), could make the process unaffordable for many, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

In a notice to be published tomorrow in the Federal Register, the department stated that it will launch a 12-month pilot program under which individuals from countries considered to have high visa overstay rates and insufficient internal document security checks may be required to submit a bond of 5,000 dollars, 10,000 dollars, or 15,000 dollars when applying for a visa.

This proposal comes as the Trump administration continues to tighten visa requirements.

Last week, the U.S. State Department also announced that many visa renewal applicants will now be required to undergo an in-person interview, something that was not previously necessary.

In addition, the department has proposed that applicants for the Diversity Visa Lottery Program must have valid passports from their country of citizenship.

According to a preliminary announcement on the Federal Register website, the pilot program would go into effect within 15 days of its official publication, and it is deemed necessary to ensure that the U.S. government does not bear financial responsibility if a visitor violates the terms of their visa.

“Foreign nationals applying for temporary visitor visas for business or tourism, who are citizens of countries identified by the department — such as countries with high visa overstay rates, inadequate screening and verification processes, or those offering citizenship by investment (without a residency requirement) — may be subject to the pilot program,” the notice stated.

The affected countries will be listed once the program goes into effect. The bond requirement may be waived depending on the individual applicant’s circumstances.

The bond will not apply to citizens of countries included in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows travel for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa.

Most of the 42 countries included in the Visa Waiver Program are in Europe, with others in Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

Visa bonds have been proposed in the past but never implemented. The State Department had traditionally discouraged this requirement due to the complexity of the process and the potential for public misunderstanding.

However, the department stated that this previous view lacks recent evidence, as visa bonds have not been widely required in recent years.