The US authorities has proposed charging some guests a bond of as much as $15,000 to enter the nation.
In accordance with a doc filed by the State Division and revealed within the Federal Register on Tuesday, a 12-month pilot programme trialling a bond cost for visa candidates will begin on 20 August.
The scheme, in impact for a yr, will apply to enterprise and vacationer visa candidates from international locations deemed to have excessive overstay charges and “deficient” inside doc safety controls.
Bonds, which might be refunded so long as the visa phrases are complied with, might value candidates $5,000 (£3,763), $10,000 (£7,527), or $15,000 (£11,286).
They won’t apply to international locations enrolled within the Visa Waiver Program, such because the UK – and might be waived for others relying on an applicant’s particular person circumstances.
Within the doc, the State Division cited Division of Homeland Safety information, which confirmed that in 2023, there have been greater than 500,000 “suspected in-country overstays” – the place folks remained within the US previous the tip of their visa phrases.
The US Journey Affiliation, which represents main tourism-related corporations, informed Reuters 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”.
It added the charge might hinder journey and that “if implemented, the US will have one of, if not the highest, visitor visa fees in the world”.
Observe The World
Hearken to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim each Wednesday
Faucet to comply with
An identical pilot scheme was launched in November 2020 on the finish of Donald Trump’s first time period in workplace, however was not totally carried out because of the fall in journey linked to the COVID pandemic.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
2:06
From June: Trump journey ban defined
The most recent transfer comes after the president enacted a journey ban in June, impacting Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The White Home stated some international locations had a “significant terrorist presence” and accused others of poor screening for harmful people and never accepting deportees.
