State Department Expands Visa Bonds to Combat Illegal Overstay Rates

The State Department is expanding its visa bond program to apply to a total of 50 countries on April 2 and will require foreign nationals from these countries to post a bond of $15,000 before receiving B1 or B2 visas for business and tourism in the United States. The bond will be returned to visa recipients who return home in compliance with the terms of the visa and the bond or does not travel.

Preventing Illegal Visa Overstays: 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.

• Nearly 1,000 foreigners have been issued visas under the program, and 97% of bonded travelers have returned home from the United States on time.
• By contrast, in Biden's last year in office, more than 44,000 visitors from the 50 current Visa Bonds countries overstayed.
• The State Department's April 2 action will apply the visa bond policy to 12 additional nations.
• The Department may continue to place Visa Bonds on countries based on a range of immigration risk factors.

Saving Taxpayer Dollars: The expanded visa bond program saves the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

• It costs the U.S. taxpayer over $18,000 on average to remove an alien illegally present in the United States.
• The Department of State is saving U.S. taxpayers up to $800 million per year that would otherwise be required to remove these aliens who overstay.

Nations Included in the Visa Bond Program:

The new countries included in the visa bond program are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia.

These countries join 38 nations that are already included in the visa bond program. Those countries are Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo 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.

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