WASHINGTON: The United States could require tourist and enterprise visa candidates to pay bonds of as much as US$15,000 beneath a pilot programme launching in two weeks, as a part of efforts to discourage overstays, based on a authorities discover launched on Monday (Aug 4).
Underneath the one-year initiative, US consular officers could have discretion to impose the bonds on travellers from international locations with excessive charges of visa overstays or the place screening and vetting info is taken into account inadequate.
The scheme, set to start on Aug 20, is a part of President Donald Trump’s broader crackdown on unlawful immigration, which has included ramped-up border enforcement and tighter entry restrictions.
Trump’s administration issued a journey ban in June affecting residents from 19 nations, and his immigration agenda has led to a decline in inbound tourism. In response to business knowledge, transatlantic airfares fell to pre-pandemic ranges in Might, and journey from Canada and Mexico to the US dropped 20 per cent year-on-year.
DISCRETIONARY BOND SYSTEM
Consular officers will select from three bond quantities, US$5,000, US$10,000 or US$15,000, although they’re usually anticipated to require no less than US$10,000. The funds can be returned if travellers go away the nation in keeping with their visa phrases.
The pilot mirrors the same initiative launched in November 2020 throughout Trump’s first time period, which was not totally applied because of the collapse in international journey brought on by COVID-19.
It stays unclear what number of travellers can be affected. Nonetheless, many international locations named in Trump’s present journey ban, together with Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen, have among the many highest overstay charges. A number of African nations, akin to Burundi, Djibouti and Togo, had been additionally recognized for extreme visa overstays in US Customs and Border Safety knowledge for fiscal yr 2023.
SEPARATE VISA FEE COMING
Along with the bond programme, a brand new provision handed in July by the Republican-controlled US Congress will impose a US$250 “visa integrity payment” for these authorized for non-immigrant visas. This cost, efficient from Oct 1, could possibly be reimbursed for travellers who adjust to visa laws.
