Planning business trip to US? Might have to pay Rs 13+ lakh as 'bond' soon

New York: The Trump administration is implementing a pilot programme under which foreign visitors arriving in the US on tourist or business visas could be required to pay a “bond” of up to $15,000 to ensure they don’t overstay their visas.

The countries that would come under the purview of the programme have not been announced yet.

The US State Department has issued a ‘temporary final rule’ under which a 12-month long visa bond pilot programme will be started.

The State Department said that under this pilot programme, foreign individuals applying for the B-1/B-2 visas to come into the US for business or tourism could be required to post a bond of up to $15,000.

The Department said that the rule is described as a “key pillar of the Trump administration’s foreign policy to protect the United States from the clear national security threat posed by visa overstays and deficient screening and vetting”.

“Individuals applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure (B-1/B-2) and who are nationals of countries identified by the Department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering Citizenship by Investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot programme,” the department said in a public notice.

It said consular officers may require covered nonimmigrant visa “applicants to post a bond of up to $15,000 as a condition of visa issuance, as determined by the consular officers”.

The pilot programme, expected to start this month, will be effective till August 5, 2026.

The pilot programme appears to be part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, a key agenda of the US president’s electoral run and his second term in the White House.

The public notice states that over the years, it has been found that hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visitors do not depart the US timely and overstay their visas.

While the public notice does not mention which countries will come under the purview of the programme, it said that the State Department will announce the covered countries within at least 15 days before the pilot programme takes effect and this list will be amended as required.

“In announcing the covered countries, the Department will also provide a brief explanation of the basis for requiring bonds consistent with this rule,” it said.

“The pilot programme is further designed to serve as a diplomatic tool to encourage foreign governments to take all appropriate actions to ensure robust screening and vetting for all citizens in matters of identity verification and public safety… and to encourage specified countries with visa overstays to ensure their nationals timely depart the United States after making temporary visits.” The public notice said that by its design and intention, the pilot programme is a “tool of diplomacy, intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when travelling to the United States for temporary visits”.

The notice also cites estimates by the Department of Homeland Security, which said that in the DHS FY 2023 Overstay Report, data indicated there were over 500,000 “suspected in-country overstays, - individuals who remained in the country past the end of their authorised stay and had yet to depart the country - among nonimmigrants admitted through air or sea ports of entry”.

Through the programme, the Department seeks to send a message to all countries to take immediate action to encourage their nationals to comply with US immigration law, it said.