U.S. Expands $15,000 Visa Bond Requirement to 50 More Countries
- By Jahanzaib Ali -
- Mar 18, 2026
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration will require citizens from 50 countries to post bonds of $15,000 to apply for U.S. entry, State Department announced on Wednesday.
According to some media reports 12 countries are being added to a list that already includes 38 other nations, largely in Africa.
The expanded visa bond program, which requires those foreign nationals to pay $15,000 for a B1 or B2 visa for business and tourism, goes into effect on April 2. The aim is to prevent visitors from overstaying their visas.
The new nations included in the visa bond program are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia.
The State Department said bonds will be returned to visa recipients who return home in compliance with the terms of the visa and the bond, or do not travel in the first place.
Since taking office last January, Trump, a Republican, has pursued a hard-line immigration policy, including an aggressive deportation drive, revocations of visas and green cards, and screens of social media posts and past speeches of immigrants.
Last June, he issued a travel ban that fully or partially blocked citizens of 19 nations from entering the U.S. on national security grounds.
The State Department official said the visa bond program has reduced the number of people who overstay their visas.
The 38 nations previously included are Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.