The US State Department is making permanent a rule requiring travellers from up to 50 countries – mostly in Africa – to pay a refundable deposit of up to $20,000 just to apply for a US tourist or business visa. It is the latest tool in the Trump administration’s push to keep out visitors seen as overstay risks before they ever reach US soil.
The final rule, which replaces a year-long pilot launched in August 2025, takes effect on August 3, 2026. It scraps the previously lowest $5,000 tier, leaving mandatory bonds of $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000, set at a consular officer’s discretion. Announcing the shift, the State Department said the move had proved “operationally feasible” and could be implemented in support of national security and foreign policy objectives, describing it as a diplomatic tool to press foreign governments to curb overstays by their own nationals.
How it works
The bond applies only to B-1 (business) and B-2 (tourism) visitor visas. Deposits are fully refundedif a traveller departs on time or is refused the visa, but forfeited on overstay or an unauthorised change of status. Bond holders must also arrive and leave via commercial air; land and sea entry no longer qualify, and there is no formal waiver process – only limited exceptions granted by consular officers.Of the 50 designated countries, 30 are in Africa, with others across Asia and Latin America, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia.
By contrast, visitors to Canada, the UK, Australia and the Schengen area must show financial means and strong home-country ties, but none is required to post a cash bond.
A pilot that emptied the visa queue
The pilot’s effect was stark. Roughly 20,000 applicants were flagged for the bond requirement, and about half declined to pay, driving an 83 per cent drop in visas issued to affected nationalities. A travel-industry trade publication Skift's analysis of the final rule found most bonds are being set at $15,000, with the State Department crediting the pilot for cutting overstays from the affected countries from more than 45,000 in the 2024 financial year to fewer than 50 – a figure not independently confirmed in the Federal Register text itself.
Bond amounts are also due to be adjusted for inflation every seven years starting October 2027, per Skift's reporting. Officials expanded the pilot from two countries to 32 by January 2026, including Bhutan, Botswana, Guinea and Turkmenistan, before rolling it into the now-permanent 50-country list.
Part of a wider crackdown
The move sits within a broader hardening of US immigration policy under President Donald Trump’s second term, which has expanded deportations, stepped up screening of visa applicants and pressed foreign governments to accept returning nationals. The bond programme signals a shift towards pre-empting overstays before travellers arrive, rather than relying solely on enforcement afterwards.
Immigration remains a flashpoint in US politics, with the southern border dominating headlines. But government data show that a substantial share of undocumented migrants entered legally and overstayed student, tourist or business visas – a pattern the administration cites to justify measures beyond physical border control. India is not on the affected list. Critics, however, have called the bond scheme an unfair burden on people from poorer countries seeking to visit family, study or do business in the US, while officials maintain it targets high-risk applicant pools rather than nationalities broadly.