The U.S. State Department on Wednesday expanded its list of countries whose citizens will be required to post bonds of up to $15,000 to apply for U.S. business or tourist visas.
The department added 12 nations to the growing list — Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles and Tunisia.
Starting April 2, passport holders from these countries must pay a bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, which is refunded if the visa application is denied or, if granted, the traveler complies with the terms of the B1 or B2 visa.
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The cost of the bond depends on the applicant’s circumstances and is determined at the discretion of a consular officer during the visa interview.
The requirement was first rolled out by the Trump administration last year, as part of an effort to crack down on visa overstays and illegal immigration, according to officials.
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With the latest additions, citizens from 50 countries will be subject to the bond requirement beginning April 2, although the policy has already been in effect for most of them.
The majority of the countries are in Africa, which officials say have higher visa overstay rates, though the list also includes nations in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere.
“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 department said in a statement.
Nearly 97% of the roughly 1,000 individuals who posted bonds complied with visa terms and did not overstay, according to the department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
State Department to ask for bonds of up to $15,000 for visa applications from a dozen more countries 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-03-19 01:49:29 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
