President Donald Trump's administration will require citizens from 50 countries to post bonds of $15,000 to apply for US entry, a State Department official said on Wednesday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 12 countries are being added to a list that already includes 38 other nations, largely in Africa.
The expanded visa bond programme, 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 official said.
The new nations included in the visa bond programme are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia.
US says visa bond has reduced visa overstay cases
The official 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 has pursued a hard-line immigration policy, including a mass 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 US on national security grounds.
The State Department official said the visa bond programme 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, Cape 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.
