Prospective tourists and visitors from more than 20 countries, mostly in Africa, could pay as much as a $15,000 bond to obtain a U.S. visa under a new rule from the Trump administration. On November 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of State published a Temporary Final Rule creating a six-month pilot program under which applicants for B-1/B-2 visas from countries with overstay rates of ten percent or higher and who have been approved by the Department of Homeland Security for an inadmissibility waiver may be required to post a bond as a condition of visa issuance. Under the pilot program, which starts December 24, 2020 and runs through June 24, 2021, U.S. consular officials could require applicants for B-1 and B-2 visas who hail from the selected countries to pay a $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 bond.
Of the 23 countries subject to the new rules, 15 are African. They are Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe and Sudan. Visa-seekers from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Iran, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Syria and Yemen could also be required to pay the bonds. Visa-holders who post bonds are entitled to a full refund, along with accrued interest, if they fully comply with the terms of their stay in the U.S.