State Department launched pilot bond program charging Dominican immigrant-visa applicants up to $250,000 to overcome public-charge denials

On August 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of State, in coordination with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), launched a pilot program allowing immigrant-visa applicants from the Dominican Republic who had been denied on "public charge" grounds to post a refundable bond — reported in individual cases at $100,000 to $250,000 — to overcome the denial and obtain their visa. The department said the bond, authorized under Immigration and Nationality Act Section 212(a)(4) and 8 CFR 213.1(b), was meant to let applicants "tangibly demonstrate they have access to the funds needed to support themselves." Consular officers set the bond amount case by case based on "the totality of the circumstances," and USCIS administers the bond, which is refundable after five years if the visa holder has not used means-tested public benefits.

The Dominican Republic was selected first "based on the scope and scale" of immigrant-visa operations at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, according to the department, and officials said the program could expand to other countries. The pilot is separate from the department's existing nonimmigrant visitor-visa bond program, which requires B-1/B-2 tourist and business travelers from 50 mostly lower-income countries to post bonds of $10,000 to $20,000 and became a permanent rule on August 3, 2026.

By requiring a six-figure bond — far beyond the means of most applicants — as the price of overcoming a "public charge" denial, and by beginning with a single, comparatively low-income nation, the policy layers a steep, nationality-specific wealth test onto an already discretionary visa-denial process.