New US visa rule targets overstays with bonds up to $15,000

Starting August 20, the United States could begin requiring some foreign nationals applying for tourist or business visas to pay bonds of up to $15,000, under a new pilot program aimed at reducing visa overstays, Reuters reports.

The measure, detailed in a government notice published on August 4, will give US consular officers the authority to impose financial bonds on applicants from countries with high rates of overstays or where screening and vetting data is considered inadequate.

According to the notice in the Federal Register, consular officials will have three bond options to impose: $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. However, they are generally expected to require a minimum of $10,000. The program is set to run for approximately one year.

The initiative aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader efforts to curb illegal immigration during his second term, which have included strengthening border enforcement and intensifying arrests of undocumented migrants already in the US. In June, Trump reintroduced a controversial travel ban that fully or partially restricts entry for citizens of 19 countries, citing national security concerns.

Many of the countries affected by the travel ban are also among those with high visa overstay rates. These include Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar, and Yemen. Data from US Customs and Border Protection for fiscal year 2023 further identified several African nations — including Burundi, Djibouti, and Togo — as having elevated overstay figures.

The new visa bond program is not without precedent. A similar policy was announced in November 2020, in the final months of Trump’s first term. However, that version of the program was never fully implemented due to the collapse of global travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The State Department has not provided an estimate of how many visa applicants might be impacted under the current plan. Nonetheless, the policy has raised concerns among travel and tourism sectors, which have already seen declines in international travel. In May, transatlantic airfares fell to pre-pandemic levels, while travel from neighbouring Canada and Mexico dropped by 20% year-over-year.

By Tamilla Hasanova