…The US Embassy in Nigeria could go bankrupt and be forced to shut down as not many Nigerians will be prepared, or have the means to post bonds of such magnitude.
TUE AUG 05 2025-theGBJournal| Travelers to the United States maybe asked to post a visa bond of up to $15,000 to enter the country, which effectively makes it unaffordable for applicants and shut out visitors for good measures from the country.
The US State Department said the visa policy will kick off a 12-month pilot program for people from countries with high overstay rates and deficient internal document security controls. The pilot program will begin August 20.
These set of people will be required to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 when applying for a visa.
The notice of the new visa policy has already been posted on the Federal Register scheduled to be published today.
The notice reads; ”Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure (B-1/B-2) 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.
Consular officers may require covered nonimmigrant visa applicants to post a bond of up to $15,000 as a condition of visa issuance, as determined by the consular officers.”
The countries affected has not been list, but will be once the program takes effect.
The US Embassy in Nigeria could go bankrupt and be forced to shut down as not many Nigerians will be prepared, or have the means to post bonds of such magnitude.
The notice also notes that the bond could be waived based on individual circumstances, and citizens of countries enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program, which provides for business travel or tourism for up to 90 days, will not be required to pay the bond.
42 countries are currently enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program, which includes countries from Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia, South Korea and Qatar. No Africa country is on the list.
The State Department said, while justifying the policy, ”the Pilot Program is a tool of diplomacy, intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when traveling to the United States for temporary visits, and to encourage countries to improve screening and vetting and the security of travel and civil documents, including in the granting of citizenship.”
The Department published a temporary final rule in 2020 initiating a six-month visa bond pilot program, aimed at assessing the operational feasibility of a visa bond
program, 85 FR 74875 (Nov. 24, 2020).
However, in light of the worldwide reduction in global travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department did not implement the pilot and consequently it did not provide any data on the feasibility for full implementation.
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