It’s a move that may make the process unaffordable for many.
WASHINGTON — The State Department is suggesting a requirement for business and tourist visa applicants to post a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, potentially making the process too costly for many.
According to a notice planned for publication in the Federal Register on Tuesday, a 12-month pilot program will be launched. Under this program, individuals from countries with high overstay rates and inadequate internal document security controls might need to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 when applying for a visa.
This proposal follows the Trump administration’s efforts to impose stricter requirements on visa applicants. Recently, the State Department announced that numerous visa renewal applicants must now undergo an additional in-person interview, which was not previously required. Furthermore, the department is suggesting that applicants for the Visa Diversity Lottery must possess valid passports from their nation of citizenship.
An advance copy of the bond notice, uploaded on the Federal Register website on Monday, indicated that the pilot program would be implemented within 15 days after its official publication. This program aims to assure that the U.S. government is not financially responsible if a visitor fails to comply with their visa conditions.
“Foreign nationals applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure, hailing from countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting details are deemed insufficient, or offering citizenship by investment without a residency requirement, may be included in the pilot program,” the notice stated.
The countries involved will be specified when the program is initiated, the notice mentioned. The bond requirement might be waived based on an applicant’s specific situation.
The bond would not apply to citizens of countries enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program, which enables travel for business or tourism for up to 90 days. The majority of the 42 countries enrolled in the program are in Europe, with others in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Visa bonds have been proposed in the past but have not been implemented. The State Department has traditionally discouraged the requirement because of the cumbersome process of posting and discharging a bond and because of a possible misperceptions by the public.
However, the department said that previous view “is not supported by any recent examples or evidence, as visa bonds have not generally been required in any recent period.”
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