The Standing

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

    State Department adds 12 countries to $15,000 visa-bond program

    On March 18, 2026, the State Department added 12 countries — Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia — to its visa-bond program, requiring B-1/B-2 visitor-visa applicants from those nations to post a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a condition of issuance, effective April 2, 2026. The addition brings the program to 50 countries, predominantly lower-income states; bonded travelers may enter only through commercial airports and are barred from land, sea, charter, and general-aviation ports of entry.

    Jurisdiction
    federal
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Abuses documented

    Actors

    • U.S. Department of State (Bureau of Consular Affairs)
    • Marco Rubio (Secretary of State)

    Why we recorded this

    A government should treat people seeking to visit on equal terms, judging applicants as individuals rather than penalizing them for the passport they hold. The visa-bond program does the opposite: it conditions a B-1/B-2 visitor visa on posting a refundable cash bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, but only for nationals of a designated list of countries — overwhelmingly lower-income states in Africa, the Caribbean, Central Asia, and the Pacific — and funnels those travelers through a narrow set of permitted airports. By sorting visitors by national origin and attaching a steep financial barrier to one group, the policy imposes a discriminatory rule that falls hardest on people from already-marginalized countries. We record it because singling out disfavored nationalities for heavier burdens is a recognized way that ostensibly neutral rules entrench unequal treatment.

    Sources

    1. Countries Subject to Visa Bonds — U.S. Department of State primary accessed June 11, 2026
    2. US to require up to $15,000 bond for visa applicants from 12 new countries — Al Jazeera primary accessed June 11, 2026
    3. U.S. to demand bonds of up to $15,000 for visa applications from 12 more countries — PBS NewsHour / Associated Press primary accessed June 11, 2026
    4. State Department's Visa Bond Program: 12 New Countries Added to the List — Ogletree Deakins secondary accessed June 11, 2026
    5. The Department of State Expands Visa Bond List for B-1/B-2 Visas — Yale Office of International Students & Scholars secondary accessed June 11, 2026

    See also