The US Department of State is expanding its visa bond programme to apply to a total of 50 countries on April 2 and will require foreign nationals from these countries to post a bond of $15,000 before receiving B1 or B2 visas for business and tourism in the United States, the government agency announced on March 18, 2026.

“The bond will be returned to visa recipients who return home in compliance with the terms of the visa and the bond or do not travel,” the office of the spokesperson said in a press release.

Preventing illegal visa overstays: The visa bond programme has already proven effective at drastically reducing the number of visa recipients who overstay their visas and illegally remain in the United States.

• Nearly 1,000 foreigners have been issued visas under the program, and 97 per cent of bonded travellers have returned home from the United States on time.
• By contrast, in Biden’s last year in office, more than 44,000 visitors from the 50 current Visa Bonds countries overstayed.
• The State Department’s April 2 action will apply the visa bond policy to 12 additional countries.
• The department may continue to place Visa Bonds on countries based on a range of immigration risk factors.

Saving taxpayer dollars: The expanded visa bond program saves American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

• It costs the US taxpayer over $18,000 on average to remove an alien illegally present in the United States.
• The Department of State is saving US taxpayers up to $800 million per year that would otherwise be required to remove these aliens who overstay.

Nations included in the Visa Bond Programme:

The new countries included in the visa bond programme are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia.

These countries join 38 nations that are already included in the visa bond programme.