Five Pacific states face permanent US visa bond requirement
The Trump administration's visa bond programme, which includes 50-odd nations, came into effect late August last year, to crack down on illegal visa overstayers in America.
Five Pacific Island states, namely Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, are set to become part of a permanent United States visa bond program. This program, which initially targeted 50 nations primarily from Africa, mandates nationals from high-overstay-rate countries to post up to $20,000 to travel as temporary visitors.
The US State Department announced the extension of the "Visa Bond Pilot Program" after its initial announcement by Reuters news agency. The requirement for visa bonds applies to business and pleasure (B1/B-2) visa applicants from these countries, particularly those with high overstay rates, weak information sharing, inadequate identity verification, criminal records, and a need for improvement in screening, vetting, and travel document security.
Initially, the bond amount ranged from $5,000 to $15,000; however, the final rule raised the maximum bond to $20,000 and removed the $5,000 option. The program, aimed at reducing overstayers, is scheduled to take effect on August 3 upon publication in the Federal Register.
Written by urgent.news from RNZ Pacific's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
