Back in December 2020, the United States government installed a temporary visa bond policy that required passengers from Ghana, Nigeria, and various other countries to make refundable bond payments of as much as $15,000.
The policy was first implemented on December 24, 2020, and was to remain in force for six months.
The decision is aimed at certain B-1 and B-2 nonimmigrant visa candidates who are supposed to be the riskiest group as they may probably abuse the business or tourism visas given to them. The countries were picked in relation to the historically highest overstay rates of more than 10 percent for certain categories of travelers in the fiscal year 2019.
This concept was initially from a presidential memorandum of the Trump administration in April 2019, which ordered the reduction of visa overstays. The bond requirement represents a pilot program experimenting with monetary guarantees as deterrents against visa violations.
Depending on the individual risk assessment, consular officers at U.S. embassies in the affected countries request bond payments varying from $5,000 to $15,000. The bonds are completely refundable when the visitors leave before their authorized stay expires.
The program included 15 countries, the majority of which were from the African continent. Moreover, the two countries, Ghana and Nigeria, were specifically singled out because of their categorization of visa overstay rates by U.S. immigration authorities as being greater than 10 percent.
The policy has been opposed by immigration advocates and African civil society groups, who believe that it unjustly restricts travel and economic engagement. The U.S. government, on the other hand, sees it as a targeted, temporary enforcement measure that helps to ensure compliance with immigration regulations.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in charge of bond collection and offers full refunds once the departure has been verified. The pilot program ended on June 24, 2021, with the decision of its permanence or extension being made based on the effectiveness of the program.
