REGULATION: Visa Bond Program
An alien applying for a visa as a temporary visitor for business or pleasure (B-1/B-2) may be required to submit a bond (“visa bond”) to ensure that the alien maintains his or her nonimmigrant status and departs as required. Consular officers may require covered nonimmigrant visa applicants to post a bond of up to $20,000 as a condition of visa issuance, as determined by the consular officers.
I. Summary
This final rule amends 22 CFR part 41 to make permanent a Visa Bond Program (“Program”) under section 221(g)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1201(g)(3), which authorizes consular officers to require the posting of a bond by an alien applying for, and otherwise eligible to receive, a business visitor/tourist (B-1/B-2) visa [1] “to insure that at the expiration of the time for which such alien has been admitted . . . or upon failure to maintain the status under which [the alien] was admitted, or to maintain any status subsequently acquired under [INA Section 248, 8 U.S.C. 1258], such alien will depart from the United States.”
The 2025 visa bond pilot,[2] which provided a framework for the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Treasury to assess the feasibility of administering a visa bond program, has provided sufficient data to suggest that a visa bond program is an effective tool for enforcing compliance among bonded visa holders. The Immigration and Naturalization Service Data Management Improvement Act of 2000 mandated the implementation of an integrated entry and exit data system with annual reports to Congress including, among other information, “the number of aliens who arrived pursuant to a nonimmigrant visa . . . for whom no matching departure data have been obtained through the system or through other means as of the end of the alien's authorized period of stay, with an accounting by the alien's country of nationality and date of arrival in the United States.” [3] A review of these reports going back over a decade demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visitors fail to timely depart in accord with the terms of their visitor visas.
This Program responds to Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” which directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, to “establish a system to facilitate the administration of all bonds” under the provisions of the INA.[4] Under the Program, as discussed further below, visa bonds may be required from certain business/pleasure (B-1/B-2) visa applicants who are nationals of countries with high overstay rates, deficient information sharing, insufficient identity verification and criminal records, and that need improvement in the area of screening and vetting and the security of travel and civil documents, including in the granting of citizenship. The Department will announce the covered countries via https://www.travel.state.gov no fewer than 15 days before the Program takes effect, and this list may be amended on a rolling basis, with 15 days from announcement to enactment for any countries added and with immediate effect for any countries removed from the list. Nationals of countries that are subject to a visa bond requirement under the Visa Bond Pilot Program will continue to be subject to a visa bond requirement pursuant to this rule on its effective date. The countries may be modified on a rolling basis, with removal effective immediately upon the removal date.
DHS regulations at 8 CFR 103.6 provide for the posting, processing, and cancellation of such visa bonds. However, the Secretary of Homeland Security delegated the authority to the employees of the Department of State, as designated by the Secretary of State, to perform duties related to the acceptance and processing of these bonds.[5] The Secretary of State consents to Department of State employees performing duties related to the acceptance and processing of visa bonds as described in this final rule. The Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Treasury will be involved in the process of collecting, holding, cancelling, and returning all monies associated with this Program.
II. Purpose of This Rule
The Department is publishing this final rule to amend its regulations to implement a permanent Visa Bond Program, including: (1) the criteria for identifying visa applicants who will be required to post visa bonds; (2) three levels for the amount of the bond, with the level to be selected by the consular officer based on an alien's individual circumstances; (3) how covered countries will be announced; and (4) certain terms and conditions applicable to visa bonds. Executive Order 14159 directs Treasury, in coordination with DHS and the Department, to take all appropriate action to implement a visa bond program. The Pilot Program helped the Department assess the operational feasibility of posting, processing, and discharging visa bonds, in coordination with Treasury and DHS, for the purpose of ensuring the legally required departure of an alien from the United States as described in Section 221(g)(3) of the INA. As a result of the Pilot Program, the Department has determined the bonds' efficacy in reducing visa misuse and overstays, and will continue use of visa bonds to address the national security and foreign policy priorities articulated in Executive Order 14159, which directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, “to establish a system to facilitate the administration of all bonds that the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security may lawfully require to administer the provisions of the INA.” [6]
Estimates of the proportion of the illegal alien population who are visa overstays vary, but it is undeniably large. The B Visa is the largest single visa category, and it is a huge contributor to the overstay population. All efforts to bring integrity and order to the B Visa are wins for national security.