A State Department pilot program that required visitors from 50 designated countries to put up bonds of up to $20,000 to receive a U.S. visa will be made permanent.
In an Aug. 3 Federal Register notice, the State Department said that the year-long Visa Bond Pilot Program, which was intended to reduce incidences of visa overstays, was successful.
During the first 10 months of the pilot, the number of visa overstays from the 50 designated countries was fewer than 50, compared to more than 45,000 overstays from those countries during the 2024 fiscal year.
Countries whose citizens are subject to the bonds include low-income nations from Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean. Twenty-nine of the countries are located in Africa. Bonds are required in the amount of either $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000, and are returned after the visitor departs the U.S.
The program applies to short-term B-1 and B-2 visas for business and tourism.
In the Federal Register filing, the State Department acknowledged that the Visa Bond Program strongly depressed visitation demand from the impacted countries. During the pilot's first 10 months, there was an 83% reduction in visa issuances to people from those nations and nearly half of the 20,000 applicants subject to the bond ultimately chose not to come to the U.S.
The U.S. Travel Association said those depressed numbers show that the Visa Bond Program is being applied too broadly.
"Blanket bonds are not the solution at a moment when the U.S. can't afford to turn away legitimate travelers and we should be focused on continuing the momentum of the World Cup," the trade group said.