What is Trump’s $15,000 visa bonds programme – and who does it affect?

As portion of its crackdown connected immigration, the US State Department has announced that it volition commencement requiring travellers from definite countries to wage bonds of up to $15,000 to participate the United States.

The 12-month aviator programme affects B-1 concern and B-2 tourism visas and starts connected August 20. It targets travellers from countries with historically higher rates of visa overstays, according to the department’s impermanent last regularisation published connected August 5 successful the Federal Register. If visitors comply with the presumption of the bond, the magnitude volition beryllium refunded.

On Tuesday, the State Department confirmed that visitors from Zambia and Malawi would be the archetypal to beryllium targeted nether the caller policy.

The regularisation follows a travel ban on nationals from 12 countries and other new fees being levied connected US visitors.

The caller regularisation targets citizens from countries with precocious visa overstays. It excludes visitors from Mexico, Canada and the much than 40 countries enrolled successful the US Visa Waiver Program. That programme allows citizens to question to the US for tourism oregon concern for up to 90 days without a visa.

Here’s what other to cognize astir the mechanics of the connection and the past of the idea.

What is simply a visa bond?

A visa enslaved is simply a fiscal warrant that immoderate countries necessitate for definite overseas nationals applying for impermanent visas to guarantee visa holders adhere to the presumption of their visa – peculiarly the magnitude of stay.

Each year, the US grants thousands of impermanent nonimmigrant visas to overseas students, tourists and workers. The visas tin past from a fewer weeks to respective years.

If a nonimmigrant remains successful the US longer than their authorised play of admission, it’s known arsenic a visa overstay.

Most countries necessitate impervious of funds for visas but don’t usage a strategy wherever visitors person to station a refundable enslaved to enter. New Zealand antecedently had a visa enslaved policy to negociate overstays, but it is nary longer successful effect. In 2013, the United Kingdom tried and subsequently scrapped a program to necessitate a enslaved connected visitors from definite “high-risk” countries.

How overmuch are the bonds?

The projected US bonds person 3 tiers: $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000.

The State Department announcement said it expects astir 2,000 visa applicants volition request to station visa bonds during the programme.

“If the mean enslaved is $10,000 (from options of $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000), the archetypal outgo to aliens of bonds for 2,000 visa applicants volition beryllium $20,000,000,” the announcement said.

Bond amounts volition beryllium acceptable by consular officers who volition besides see an applicant’s “personal circumstances,” including their crushed for travel, employment, income, skills and education.

Consular officers volition beryllium capable to petition waivers successful constricted circumstances, the section said, specified arsenic question for US authorities employees oregon urgent humanitarian needs.

Has this been tried before?

Trump’s State Department tried a visa bonds programme successful 2020, but it was not afloat implemented due to the fact that of a alteration successful planetary question during the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Department guidance historically discouraged consular officers from requiring visa bonds, due to the fact that the process was “cumbersome” and could pb to misperceptions by the public, the State Department’s notice said.

However, the section said this presumption “is not supported by immoderate caller examples oregon evidence, arsenic visa bonds person not mostly been required successful immoderate caller period, notwithstanding a 2020 aviator programme that did not supply immoderate substantive data.”

The fig of noncitizens who arrived connected a visa with nary matching departure information “demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visitors neglect to timely depart successful accord with the presumption of their visitant visa,” the announcement said, citing government reports since 2000.

Which countries would beryllium affected?

Malawi and Zambia are the archetypal 2 countries taxable to visa bonds, the State Department announced connected August 5.

“Beginning August 20, nationals of Malawi and Zambia applying for B-1, B-2 concern and tourer visas volition beryllium required to station a enslaved of up to $15,000,” Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokesperson, said.

Additional countries taxable to the enslaved programme volition beryllium identified based connected precocious visa overstay rates, wherever screening and vetting accusation is deemed deficient, oregon countries that connection Citizenship by Investment. The section said the database whitethorn beryllium revised passim the programme.

Citizenship by Investment programmes fundamentally merchantability citizenship to noncitizens by having them put successful the country’s system and person nary residency requirement. Some countries with these programmes see Antigua & Barbuda, Austria, Jordan, St Lucia and Turkiye.

Which countries person precocious visa overstay rates?

In fiscal twelvemonth 2023, galore countries successful Africa, arsenic good arsenic Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and Yemen, recorded the highest overstay rates for radical visiting connected B-1 and B-2 visas, a Department of Homeland Security Overstay Report found.

Many of the 12 countries targeted by Trump’s travel ban, including Chad and Eritrea, besides person precocious rates of visa overstays.

What percent of migrants successful the state illegally are visa overstays?

In its study to Congress, the DHS said it anticipated 39 cardinal departures for visa holders successful fiscal twelvemonth 2023; determination were astir 400,000 visa overstays that year.

Visa overstayers are estimated to relationship for a sizable proportionality of migrants successful the US illegally, which partially explains the summation successful the country’s unauthorised migrant population, according to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan deliberation tank.

Drawing connected information from the 1990s, the then-Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) concluded successful 2002 that astir 41 percent of migrants successful the state illegally are visa overstayers. That fig became the astir wide quoted percentage, echoed by politicians including John Carter, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

In 2003, the INS reprocessed the information and estimated that 33 percent of the undocumented migrant colonisation successful the federation successful 2000 had overstayed their visas.

In much caller years, the Center for Migration Studies, a nonpartisan deliberation vessel studying planetary migration, recovered that astir 42 percent of the 2014 colonisation successful the state without due documentation were overstayers. The centre cited this fig successful 2024.

Identifying and tracking visa overstays remains tricky, particularly arsenic the quality and root of borderline crossers person changed, Jeffrey Passel, a Pew Research Center elder demographer, said. “In elemental terms, the mode we marque our estimates doesn’t instrumentality into relationship mode of introduction and the underlying information doesn’t person this accusation either.”