WASHINGTON —The U.S. might require bonds of as much as $15,000 for some vacationer and enterprise visas beneath a pilot program launching in two weeks, a authorities discover stated on Monday, an effort that goals to crack down on guests who overstay their visas.
This system provides U.S. consular officers the discretion to impose bonds on guests from nations with excessive charges of visa overstays, in line with a Federal Register discover. Bonds is also utilized to individuals coming from nations the place screening and vetting info is deemed inadequate, the discover stated.
President Donald Trump has made cracking down on unlawful immigration a spotlight of his presidency, boosting assets to safe the border and arresting individuals within the U.S. illegally.
He issued a journey ban in June that totally or partially blocks residents of 19 nations from coming into the U.S. on nationwide safety grounds.
Trump’s immigration insurance policies have led some guests to skip journey to america. Transatlantic airfares dropped to charges final seen earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic in Could and journey from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. fell by 20% year-over-year.
Efficient August 20, the brand new visa program will final for about a 12 months, the federal government discover stated. Consular officers can have three choices for visa candidates subjected to the bonds: $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, however will typically be anticipated to require a minimum of $10,000, it stated.
The funds might be returned to vacationers in the event that they depart in accordance with the phrases of their visas, the discover stated.
An analogous pilot program was launched in November 2020 over the last months of Trump’s first time period in workplace, but it surely was not totally applied as a result of drop in international journey related to the pandemic, the discover stated.
The State Division was unable to estimate the variety of visa candidates who might be affected by the change. Most of the nations focused by Trump’s journey ban even have excessive charges of visa overstays, together with Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen.
Quite a few nations in Africa, together with Burundi, Djibouti and Togo additionally had excessive overstay charges, in line with U.S. Customs and Border Safety knowledge from fiscal 12 months 2023.
A provision in a sweeping spending bundle handed within the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress in July additionally created a $250 “visa integrity price” for anybody permitted for a non-immigrant visa that might probably be reimbursable for many who adjust to visa guidelines. The $250 price goes into impact on October 1. —Reuters
