The United States State Department has made permanent its pilot visa bond program, under which citizens of listed foreign countries seeking to obtain business or tourism visas to come to the United States may be required to pay a significant sum – a bond of up to $20,000 – to obtain a visa.
As stated in the Federal Register notice, the program will be limited to those who are applying for business visitor/tourist (B-1/B-2) nonimmigrant visas and are citizens of specific countries identified by the State Department as “failing to meet rigorous standards relating to overstays, information sharing, screening and vetting, civil, criminal and identity records, and document security.”
Among the 50 countries currently listed in the program, 12 are in Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Tajikistan, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The State Department explicitly framed the bond as ensuring that the visa-holder will maintain their nonimmigrant status – meaning they will not apply for asylum or refugee status – and that the individual will depart as required by the limits of their visa.
The latest relevant notice, to be published in the Federal Register on August 3, claimed that the pilot program “has provided sufficient data to suggest that a visa bond program is an effective tool for enforcing compliance among bonded visa holders.”
