US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to demand bonds of up to $15,000 (roughly €13,000) from citizens of 12 more countries seeking visas.
The new requirement, which will be implemented on April 12, is set to impact 12 countries across several continents, half of them in Africa:
Cambodia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Grenada
Lesotho
Mauritius
Mongolia
Mozambique
Nicaragua
Papua New Guinea
Seychelles
Tunisia
Applicants from those countries will need to pay the bond in order to acquire the visas — regardless if the stay is for tourism, study or employment.
The bond could be $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 depending on the outcome of the visa interview.
For most of the countries, those figures easily equate to at least a year’s average wages or even several years’ wages in some cases.
The bond will be refunded once the visa holder departs the US on or before the date to which they are authorised to stay in US.
The bond will also be refunded if the visa holder decides to not travel to the US at all.
The addition means that a total of 50 countries will soon need to pay a bond before getting a US visa, after the Trump administration earlier imposed bond requirements on 38 other nations, including Bangladesh and Nigeria, last year.
The Trump administration said it was imposing the bonds on countries with high overstay rates.
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“The visa bond programme has already proven effective at drastically reducing the number of visa recipients who overstay their visas and illegally remain in the United States,” the State Department said.
