The USA is introducing a pilot programme that might require vacationer and enterprise visa candidates from chosen nations to put up bonds of as much as $15,000. It’s a measure aimed toward curbing visa overstays, however one which will value out many travellers.
In line with a discover from the State Division, the 12-month pilot will apply to nationals from nations with excessive overstay charges, weak identification verification programs, or these providing citizenship-for-investment schemes with little or no residency requirement.
Candidates from these nations could possibly be requested to deposit $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 as a situation for acquiring a visa. The bond is meant to make sure compliance with visa phrases and can be refundable upon well timed departure. Particular person waivers could also be granted on a case-by-case foundation.
The bond requirement won’t apply to residents of nations within the US Visa Waiver Programme, which covers most of Europe in addition to choose nations in Asia and the Center East.
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The transfer marks one other important escalation within the Trump administration’s hardline method to immigration. It follows final week’s coverage adjustments requiring in-person interviews for a lot of visa renewals and a proposal mandating legitimate passports for candidates to the Visa Lottery Programme.
Though visa bonds have been floated previously, they’ve not often been applied. The State Division beforehand discouraged them, citing bureaucratic hurdles and reputational dangers. However the division now says that place was not grounded in current proof, as bonds haven’t been broadly examined.
The nations affected by the pilot will probably be named when the programme formally takes impact, 15 days after publication within the Federal Register.
