WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. State Department has announced that it is expanding its visa bond program to 50 countries on April 2, requiring foreign nationals from these countries to post a bond of $15,000 before receiving B1 or B2 visas for business and tourism in the United States. The bond will be returned to visa recipients who return home in compliance with the terms of the visa and the bond or does not travel.
The State Department says the visa bond program has already proven effective at drastically reducing the number of visa recipients who overstay their visas and illegally remain in the United States.
Nearly 1,000 foreigners have been issued visas under the program, and 97 percent of bonded travelers have returned home from the United States on time.
By contrast, in Joe President Biden's last year in office, more than 44,000 visitors from the 50 current Visa Bonds countries overstayed in the U.S., according to the State Department.
The new countries included in the visa bond program are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia.
These countries join 38 nations that are already included in the visa bond program: Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Department indicated that it may continue to place Visa Bonds on countries based on a range of immigration risk factors.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
