The US has turned the requirement to pay a deposit of up to $20,000 for business and tourist visa applications into a permanent practice for nationals of 50 countries. According to the State Department's announcement on July 31, the new regulation took effect on August 3.
The deposit amount will be determined by a consular officer for each application. The sum will be refunded to those who leave the US within the specified time, do not use the visa, or are denied entry. However, the deposit of those who violate the terms of stay will be confiscated.
The measure covers countries whose nationals most frequently violate visa rules. The list includes Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as well as Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Tunisia, Uganda, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and numerous countries from Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Russia is not on the list.
The US State Department stated that the measure aims to reduce visa abuse and overstays. The previous pilot program required applicants to pay a deposit of between $5,000 and $15,000. With the new regulation, the lower limit of $5,000 has been removed, while the upper limit has been raised to $20,000. The department announced that it found the results of the pilot program successful.
According to Associated Press data, in the 2024 fiscal year, nationals of the listed countries overstayed their US visas approximately 45,500 times. In the first 10 months of the pilot project, this number dropped below 50. During the same period, the number of visas issued to those countries fell by 83 percent.