US State Dept may require visa applicants to post bond of up to USD 15,000

The US State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to USD 15,000 to apply to enter the United States, a move that may make the process unaffordable for many.

In a notice to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the department said it would start a 12-month pilot programme under which people from countries deemed to have high overstay rates and deficient internal document security controls could be required to post bonds of USD 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 when they apply for a visa.

A preview of the notice, which was posted on the Federal Register website on Monday, said the pilot programme would take effect within 15 days of its formal publication and is necessary to ensure that the US government is not financially liable if a visitor does not comply with the terms of his or her visa.

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“Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure and who are nationals of countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering citizenship by investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot programme,” the notice said.

The countries affected would be listed once the programme takes effect, it said.

The bond would not apply to citizens of countries enrolled in the Visa Waiver Programme and could be waived for others depending on an applicant's individual circumstances.

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 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.”