America Division of State has introduced the primary international residents to be topic to bonds of as much as $15,000 ought to they go to the nation on vacationer visas.
On Tuesday, Zambia and Malawi, each African international locations, have been the inaugural entries on a list of nations that the State Division will topic to visa bonds.
The thought, introduced earlier this week, is to impose bonds on international locations whose residents have excessive charges of overstaying their US visas.
Vacationers from these international locations must pay an quantity starting from $5,000 to $15,000 on the time of their visa interview to enter the US. Then, if the vacationer departs on or earlier than their visa’s expiration, that quantity could be refunded to them.
The cash would even be returned if the visa have been cancelled, if the journey doesn’t happen, or if the vacationer is denied entry into the US.
Ought to a vacationer overstay their visa — or apply for asylum or one other immigration-related programme whereas within the US — the federal authorities would maintain the cash.
Extra international locations, along with Malawi and Zambia, are anticipated to be added to the record. The bond requirement is slated to take impact for these two international locations beginning on August 20.
“This focused, common sense measure reinforces the administration’s dedication to US immigration legislation whereas deterring visa overstays,” State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump has taken a hardline method to immigration since his return to workplace in January for a second time period.
On his first day again in workplace, Trump signed an government order referred to as “Defending the American Folks Towards Invasion”, which denounced the “unprecedented flood of unlawful immigration” into the US.
It pledged to forcefully execute US immigration legal guidelines. That government order was finally cited as the premise for the brand new visa bonds.
The bonds are a part of a pilot programme introduced on Monday, slated to final 12 months.
“This [temporary final rule] addresses the Trump Administration’s name to guard the American folks by faithfully executing the immigration legal guidelines of america,” a filing to the Federal Register reads.
Yearly, the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) releases a report about visa overstays within the US.
Probably the most recent report, launched in 2024, discovered that there have been 565,155 visa overstays for fiscal 12 months 2023. That amounted to just one.45 % of the full non-immigrant admissions into the US.
“In different phrases, 98.55 % of the in-scope nonimmigrant guests departed america on-time and in accordance with the phrases of their admission,” the report explains.
In its breakdown of country-by-country overstay charges, the report indicated that each Malawi and Zambia had comparatively excessive visa overstay charges, at 14.3 and 11.1 %, respectively.
However Zambia and Malawi are each smaller international locations with comparatively few tourism- or business-related arrivals within the US.
In keeping with the report, just one,655 folks arrived from Malawi in fiscal 12 months 2023 for enterprise or pleasure. Of that complete, 237 overstayed their visas.
In the meantime, 3,493 folks arrived from Zambia for tourism or enterprise throughout the identical time-frame. Of that complete, 388 surpassed their visa limits.
These numbers are dwarfed by the sheer numbers from bigger, extra populous international locations with bigger client bases. An estimated 20,811 Brazilians stayed within the US longer than their tourism or enterprise visas allowed, for example, and 40,884 overstays have been from Colombia.
Critics have additionally identified that the newly imposed bonds put journey to the US — already an expensive prospect — additional out of attain for residents of poorer international locations.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group, was amongst those who denounced the brand new bond scheme as discriminatory. It described the system as a type of exploitation — a “legalised shakedown” — in a statement on Tuesday.
“This isn’t about nationwide safety,” mentioned Robert McCaw, CAIR’s authorities affairs director. “It’s about weaponising immigration coverage to extort weak guests, punish disfavored international locations, and switch America’s welcome mat right into a paywall.”
Residents of nations which might be a part of the US’s visa waiver programmes should not topic to the visa bonds unveiled this week.
