The U.S. could require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourist and business visas under a pilot program launching in two weeks.
It comes after the Trump administration secured another victory in restricting visas for transgender athletes to come to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
A government notice made the announcement on Monday, an effort that aims to crack down on visitors who overstay their visas.
The program gives foreign service officers at American embassies the discretion to impose bonds on visitors from countries with high rates of visa overstays, according to a Federal Register notice.
Bonds could also be applied to people coming from countries where screening and vetting information is deemed insufficient, the notice said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment.
Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a focus of his presidency, boosting resources to secure the border and arresting people in the U.S. illegally.
He issued a travel ban in June that fully or partially blocks citizens of 19 nations from entering the U.S. on national security grounds.
Trump’s immigration policies have led some visitors to skip travel to the United States. Transatlantic airfares dropped to rates last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic in May and travel from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. fell by 20% year-over-year.
Effective August 20, the new visa program will last for approximately a year, the government notice said.
Consular officers will have three options for visa applicants subjected to the bonds: $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, but will generally be expected to require at least $10,000, it said.
The U.S. could require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourist and business visas under a pilot program launching in two weeks
Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a focus of his presidency, boosting resources to secure the border and arresting people in the U.S. illegally
The funds will be returned to travelers if they depart in accordance with the terms of their visas, the notice said.
A similar pilot program was launched in November 2020 during the last months of Trump’s first term in office, but it was not fully implemented due to the drop in global travel associated with the pandemic, the notice said.
A State Department spokesperson listed the criteria that will be used to identify the countries that will be affected, adding that the country list may be updated.
‘Countries will be identified based on high overstay rates, screening and vetting deficiencies, concerns regarding acquisition of citizenship by investment without a residency requirement, and foreign policy considerations,’ the spokesperson said.
The State Department was unable to estimate the number of visa applicants who could be affected by the change.
Many of the countries targeted by Trump’s travel ban also have high rates of visa overstays, including Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen.
U.S. Travel Association, which represents major tourism-related companies, estimated the ‘scope of the visa bond pilot program appears to be limited, with an estimated 2,000 applicants affected, most likely from only a few countries with relatively low travel volume to the United States.’
Numerous countries in Africa, including Burundi, Djibouti and Togo also had high overstay rates, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from fiscal year 2023.
Trump’s immigration policies have led some visitors to skip travel to the United States. Transatlantic airfares dropped to rates last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic in May and travel from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. fell by 20% year-over-year
It comes after the Trump administration secured another victory in restricting visas for transgender athletes to come to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles
A provision in a sweeping spending package passed in the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress in July also created a $250 ‘visa integrity fee’ for anyone approved for a non-immigrant visa that could potentially be reimbursable for those who comply with visa rules. The $250 fee goes into effect on October 1.
U.S. Travel said that fee could hinder travel and said ‘if implemented, the U.S. will have one of, if not the highest, visitor visa fees in the world.’
Earlier Monday, Citizenship and Immigration Services stepped in line with Trump’s wider efforts to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports.
The USCIS announced it has updated its immigration policy to restrict visa eligibility for transgender women seeking to compete in women’s sports.
Under the policy update, USCIS will consider ‘the fact that a male athlete has been competing against women’ as a negative factor when evaluating visa petitions in categories such as O-1A for extraordinary ability, EB-1 and EB-2 green cards for highly skilled workers, and national interest waivers.
‘USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women,’ said USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser.
‘It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports.’
The move comes amid the president’s broader efforts to bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports with the United States set to host the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.