A wide presumption of a U.S. State Department motion extracurricular the U.S. State Department gathering successful Washington, D.C., U.S., July 11, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
The State Department is acceptable to motorboat a caller aviator programme aboriginal this period that volition necessitate overseas visitors readying question to the U.S. from definite countries to station bonds of up to $15,000, according to a temporary last rule published successful the Federal Register Tuesday.
The program, scheduled to statesman Aug. 20 and past until Aug. 5, 2026, volition specifically use to radical successful definite overseas countries applying for B-1 oregon B-2 visas for concern oregon tourer question to the United States. Each of those visas allows for a maximum enactment of six months, though immoderate extensions are permitted successful definite cases.
The Trump medication said the program's intent is to trim visa overstays successful the U.S. and is simply a nonstop effect to President Donald Trump's January enforcement bid "Protecting The American People Against Invasion."
"The Pilot Program is simply a instrumentality of diplomacy, intended to promote overseas governments to instrumentality contiguous enactment to trim the overstay rates of their nationals erstwhile traveling to the United States for impermanent visits, and to promote countries to amended screening and vetting and the information of question and civilian documents, including successful the granting of citizenship," the regularisation said.
Visa applicants volition beryllium required to supply a enslaved of $5,000, $10,000 oregon $15,000 arsenic a information of it being issued, and the magnitude volition beryllium determined by consular officers based connected each person's circumstances. This tin include, the medication said, "any accusation provided by the visa applicant connected the visa exertion oregon successful the visa interrogation regarding the alien's intent of travel, existent employment, income, skills, and education."
These requirements volition lone use to countries that the State Department identifies arsenic having records of precocious visa overstay rates, based connected information collected by the Department of Homeland Security. The State Department announced Tuesday that the programme volition archetypal use to visa applicants from Malawi and Zambia. The database of countries tin beryllium amended passim the program, according to the rule.
The State Department said that these visa holders from Malawi and Zambia volition person to get and depart from 1 of 3 points of entry: Boston Logan International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.
It wasn't instantly wide wherefore Malawi and Zambia were chosen for the program, arsenic the latest DHS overstay study from fiscal twelvemonth 2023 listed Chad, Laos and Haiti arsenic being among the countries that person the highest visa overstay rates. Altogether, an estimated 500,000 radical admitted to the U.S. during that play stayed past their visa expiration dates.
The State Department didn't instantly respond to a petition for comment.
"This targeted common-sense measurement reinforces the administration's committedness to U.S. migration instrumentality portion deterring visa overstays," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters astatine the property briefing Tuesday.
If visa applicants who are required to taxable bonds comply with the presumption and conditions and don't overstay their visa, for example, they are entitled to afloat refunds. Those who interruption immoderate of the conditions volition person to forfeit the enslaved amount.
This comes arsenic the Trump medication has been transforming the national government's migration and visa rules for months. Under the precocious enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for example, visitors to the U.S. volition request to wage a "visa integrity fee" on apical of further visa fees.
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