US Expands List of Countries Subject to Visa Bonds of up to $15,000

The U.S. State Department has expanded its list of countries whose citizens will be subject to visa bonds of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, adding 25 more nations, according to its website.

The latest additions will bring the total number of nations to 38, according to the department’s website, and visa bonds for the newly listed countries will take effect on Jan. 21.

The newly added countries are Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Gabon, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

The expansion came just a week after the department added Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, and Turkmenistan to the list, with visa bonds going into effect on Jan. 1.

Mauritania, São Tomé and Principe, Tanzania, Gambia, Malawi, and Zambia were placed on the list in August and October 2025.

Citizens of those nations who are deemed eligible for B1/B2 visas, which are used for short-term tourism and business travel, are required to post a bond ranging from $5,000 to $15,000; the exact amount is determined during the visa interview.

The department said that the visa bond policy is intended to deter visa overstays by citizens of the listed nations.

Bond payments will be returned when a visa holder departs from the United States before the expiration of the authorized date of stay or if the person is denied admission at a U.S. port of entry, it stated.

“A bond does not guarantee visa issuance. If someone pays fees without a consular officer’s direction, the fees will not be returned,” the department states on its website.

The list of nations stems from a 12-month visa bond pilot program the department launched in August 2025. It targeted countries with high visa overstay rates, those with insufficient screening and vetting, and those that offer citizenship to individuals via investment.

In an Aug. 5, 2025, federal register document, the department said the program is “intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when traveling to the United States for temporary visits, and to encourage countries to improve screening and vetting and the security of travel and civil documents, including in the granting of citizenship.”

The Trump administration has sought to tighten entry requirements for foreign nationals, including imposing visa restrictions and entry limits on citizens of certain countries identified as having “severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing,” according to a White House fact sheet published in December.

Other steps include adding an online presence review to the vetting requirements in 2025 for H-1B visa applicants and their dependents, as well as for student visa and exchange visitor applicants, in an effort to safeguard Americans and national interests, according to the department.