The United States government is set to launch a visa bond programme that will require certain visitors — including Nigerians — to pay bonds of up to $15,000 when applying for business or tourist visas.
The move, aimed at curbing visa overstays, is scheduled to take effect from August 20 under a pilot scheme expected to run for one year.
Announced via a Federal Register notice on Monday, the policy empowers U.S. consular officers to impose bond requirements of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 on applicants from countries with high rates of overstaying visas or insufficient security vetting systems.
Officers will generally be expected to impose at least a $10,000 bond in most cases.
Nigerians, alongside citizens of Angola, Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Cabo Verde — all of which recorded visa overstay rates exceeding 10 percent in 2023 — are among those likely to be affected.
The U.S. Department of State clarified that the funds would be refunded to travellers who comply with the terms of their visas and depart the country on time.
This new measure revives a similar bond policy introduced in November 2020, during the final months of President Donald Trump’s first term. That earlier programme was eventually shelved due to reduced international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Trump administration has consistently championed stricter immigration controls, including the June 2025 travel ban that blocked or restricted entry for citizens of 19 countries on national security grounds.
Several of those countries are also on the list of nations likely to be subject to the new visa bond requirement.
According to a State Department spokesperson, countries will be selected for the bond policy based on various criteria, including high visa overstay rates, inadequate screening procedures, and concerns over citizenship-by-investment programmes that do not require residency. Foreign policy considerations will also play a role.
Although the exact number of people affected remains uncertain, the U.S. Travel Association estimates that the programme will impact approximately 2,000 applicants annually, mostly from countries with low travel volumes to the U.S.
Additional nations potentially impacted include Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar, Yemen, Burundi, Djibouti, and Togo — many of which are already on the U.S. travel ban list.
In a related development, a provision in a new Republican-backed spending bill passed in July will impose a separate “visa integrity fee” of $250 on all approved non-immigrant visa holders.
Scheduled to take effect on October 1, the fee may be refunded to individuals who adhere to U.S. visa rules.
However, critics have raised concerns that these mounting costs may deter legitimate travellers and further strain international tourism.
“If fully implemented, the U.S. will have one of the highest visitor visa costs in the world,” the U.S. Travel Association warned, expressing fears that the new policies could discourage global travellers and hamper the country’s tourism recovery.
The dual measures form part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to overhaul immigration procedures and address visa misuse.
