According to a new short-term policy issued to discourage nationals of countries with high rate of visa overstay, any Nigerian visiting the United States (US) may have to pay up to $15,000 in bonds.
The Donald Trump administration introduced the visa bond pilot programme recently for B-1 visas (for business travellers) and B-2 visas (for tourists) and it is expected to be in place for six months (December 24, 2020 to June 24, 2021.
Under the rule, US consular officials will ask travellers from the countries that that the policy affects to pay a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000. Up to 15 African countries are on the list.
The US Department of State’s visa bond pilot programme is said to target mostly African countries with very high visa overstay — the visitors are believed to have come into the country legally on student, tourist, work visas and then refuse to go back to their countries when their visa expires.
The policy document read: “The purpose of the pilot program is to assess the operational feasibility of posting, processing and discharging visa bonds, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to help assess the burden on government agencies and identify any practical challenges related to visa bonds.
“The pilot program is designed to apply to nationals of specified countries with high overstay rates to serve as a diplomatic tool to encourage foreign governments to take all appropriate actions to ensure their nationals timely depart the United States after making temporary visits.
“The Pilot Program will run for six months. During that period, consular officers may require nonimmigrant visa applicants falling within the scope of the Pilot Program to post a bond in the amount of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a condition of visa issuance.
“The amount of the bond, should a bond be appropriate, will be determined by the consular officer based on the circumstances of the visa applicant.”
Data from the DHS revealed that almost 30,000 Nigerians overstayed their B1/B2 visas in 2018 alone, as such, Nigeria ranks 5th among countries with the most visa overstays in the US. By implication, Nigeria is the African country with the highest visa overstays.
