The US State Department is set to roll out a pilot program that will require some tourist and business visa applicants to pay a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States
Some tourists will have to fork out $15,000 (£11,500) to enter the US under new plans.
The US State Department is gearing up to launch a pilot scheme that will see certain tourists and business visa seekers required to fork out a bond of as much as $15,000 for entry into the United States. This initiative targets individuals from countries with high rates of visa overstays, as revealed in a cable dispatched to State Department personnel on Monday, which Politico managed to get a hold of.
For the duration of this year-long trial, applicants for business and tourist visas hailing from specific nations will need to cough up a $10,000 bond per adult and $5,000 for each child. This deposit will be returned at the end of the trip, so long as visa conditions are met. The visa plans have come to light as Trump’s interior design choices for the White House have come under scrutiny.
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Those from countries where screening and vetting data are considered inadequate might also find themselves affected, as detailed in a notice published on the Federal Register’s website on Monday.
“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 program,” the notice outlined.
The specific countries whose citizens will be subject to the bond will be announced when the program is implemented, although it won’t affect those from nations participating in the Visa Waiver Program. The UK is one of those Visa Waiver countries.
According to the announcement, the pilot program is set to commence within 15 days following its official publication. A similar six-month visa bond pilot scheme was poised to launch in 2020, but the onset of the COVID pandemic and subsequent decline in international travel meant it never got off the ground, the announcement revealed.
“The Department did not implement the pilot and consequently it did not provide any data on the feasibility for full implementation,” the statement read.
Historically, the Department’s advice has been against visa bonds, citing that the “mechanics of posting, processing and discharging a bond are cumbersome” and warning of the “possible misperception of a bond requirement by the public.”
However, the department has now indicated that this stance is “not supported by any recent examples or evidence, as visa bonds have not generally been required in any recent period.”