US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to demand bonds of up to $15,000 (roughly €13,000) from citizens of 12 more countries seeking visas.
Which countries will be impacted?
The new requirement, which will be implemented on April 12, is set to impact 12 countries across several continents, half of them in Africa:
Cambodia Ethiopia Georgia Grenada Lesotho Mauritius Mongolia Mozambique Nicaragua Papua New Guinea Seychelles Tunisia
Applicants from those countries will need to pay the bond in order to acquire the visas — regardless if the stay is for tourism, study or employment. The bond could be $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 depending on the outcome of the visa interview.
For most of the countries, those figures easily equate to at least a year’s average wages or even several years’ wages in some cases.
The bond will be refunded once the visa holder departs the US on or before the date to which they are authorized to stay in US. The bond will also be refunded if the visa holder decides to not travel to the US at all.
The addition means that a total of 50 countries will be soon need to pay a bond before getting a US visa, after the Trump administration earlier imposed bond requirements on 38 other nations, including Bangladesh and Nigeria, last year.
The Trump administration says it imposing the bonds on countries with high overstay rates.
“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,” the State Department said.
Trump administration launches legal immigration crackdown
It’s the latest step the Trump administration has taken to tighten or restrict legal immigration.
The Trump administration in January announced it would temporarily pause immigrant visa processing for 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Russia and Thailand, among others.
The 75-country pause means that nationals from those countries will not be able to get visas for employment or to join family in the US.
The 75-country immigrant visa pause has led to lawsuits, with Democrats in the US House of the Representatives urging the Trump adminstration to revoke it.
Edited by: Mark Hallam