State Department proclaims program requiring some overseas guests to pay bonds of as much as $15,000

WASHINGTON — The State Department is ready to launch a brand new pilot program later this month that can require overseas guests planning journey to the U.S. from sure international locations to publish bonds of as much as $15,000, in line with a temporary final rule printed within the Federal Register on Tuesday.

The program, scheduled to start Aug. 20 and final till Aug. 5, 2026, will particularly apply to individuals in sure overseas international locations making use of for B-1 or B-2 visas for enterprise or vacationer journey to the United States. Each of these visas allows for a maximum stay of six months, although extensions are permitted in some circumstances.

The Trump administration mentioned this system’s objective is to scale back visa overstays within the U.S. and is a direct response to President Donald Trump’s January govt order “Protecting The American People Against Invasion.”

“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 rule mentioned.

Visa candidates will probably be required to supply a bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 as a situation of it being issued, and the quantity will probably be decided by consular officers primarily based on every particular person’s circumstances. This can embody, the administration mentioned, “any information provided by the visa applicant on the visa application or in the visa interview regarding the alien’s purpose of travel, current employment, income, skills, and education.”

These necessities will solely apply to international locations that the State Department identifies as having information of excessive visa overstay charges, primarily based on knowledge collected by the Department of Homeland Security. The State Department announced Tuesday that this system will first apply to visa candidates from Malawi and Zambia. The record of nations will be amended all through this system, in line with the rule.

The State Department mentioned that these visa holders from Malawi and Zambia should arrive and depart from considered one of three factors of entry: Boston Logan International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.

It wasn’t instantly clear why Malawi and Zambia had been chosen for this system, as the most recent DHS overstay report from fiscal year 2023 listed Chad, Laos and Haiti as being among the many international locations which have the very best visa overstay charges. Altogether, an estimated 500,000 individuals admitted to the U.S. throughout that interval stayed previous their visa expiration dates.

The State Department did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

“This targeted common-sense measure reinforces the administration’s commitment to U.S. immigration law while deterring visa overstays,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce instructed reporters on the information briefing Tuesday.

If visa candidates who’re required to submit bonds adjust to the phrases and circumstances and do not overstay their visa, for instance, they’re entitled to full refunds. Those who violate any of the circumstances should forfeit the bond quantity.

The pilot program comes because the Trump administration has been remodeling the federal authorities’s immigration and visa guidelines for months. Under the just lately enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for instance, guests to the U.S. might want to pay a “visa integrity fee” on prime of further visa charges.