The US could require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourist and business visas under a pilot program that will begin in two weeks.
The State Department’s notice was released Monday, he said. He said the effort was aimed at blocking people who continue their visas.
The 12-month pilot program, which will begin on August 20th, is aimed at people seeking B-1 or B-2 visas from countries with high inventory, although documents do not identify the country. In June, the US government announced the possibility of a full or partial travel ban on visitors from 36 countries.
The State Department said in its announcement that the program could bring in $20 million over a year.
“The pilot program is further designed to serve as a diplomatic tool that encourages foreign governments to take all appropriate action to ensure robust screening and review of all citizens in issues of identity verification and public safety,” the release said.
The release points out that historically the State Department has discouraged it by requiring travelers to the US to post bonds, saying that handling bonds is “funny.”
In 2020, at the end of President Donald Trump’s first administration, the White House rolled out a similar six-month program targeting 20 countries. It was not fully implemented due to global decline in travel related to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the notification
The Trump administration said the new program will be a diplomatic deterrent for bad actors trying to enter the US. According to the report, it is suspected that there will be 500,000 people in stock in 2023.
Trump has made immigrants a central focus in his presidency, surged resources to secure borders, and arrested tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, including many seeking legal status.
The administration justified arrests and deportation for repeated claims that “people that are illegally present in the United States present a major threat to national security and public safety,” but overwhelming evidence shows that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than naturally-born Americans.
A report presented to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024 looked at Texas arrest records and determined that both undocumented and undocumented immigrants committed crimes at a lower rate than US citizens with undocumented immigrants. A 2021 study by Oxford Economics found that undocumented immigrants were 33% less likely to be jailed than US citizens.
