United States: State Department Launching Visa Bond Pilot Program for Certain B-1/B-2 Visa Applicants

Under the pilot, bond payment will be required for B-1/B-2 visa applicants (visitors for business or tourism) who are nationals of a country that the State Department identifies as:

• Having high overstay rates;
• Deficient in vetting and screening of its citizens in issuing passports and other documents; or
• Offering citizenship by investment, if the foreign national obtained citizenship with no residency requirement.

Countries deemed to meet these criteria are posted on the Department of State Consular Affairs website at travel.state.gov. For now, the countries designated under the pilot program are Malawi and Zambia. However, the State Department reserves the right to change the list of countries subject to the pilot program, and says it will provide at least 15 days’ notice before making changes. In its temporary final rule, the State Department estimates that visa bonds will be required for 2,000 visa applicants during the pilot program.

Nationals of 19 countries previously deemed to be deficient in the vetting and screening of its citizens are already banned from receiving B-1/B-2 visas pursuant to President Trump’s June 4 nationality-based travel ban. If these countries are added to the pilot program, the Visa Bond program would presumably apply to nationals of these countries who may be exempt from the travel ban under one of its exceptions and now seek to obtain a B-1/B-2 visa.

B visa applicants from affected countries will start the visa process in the same way as other nonimmigrant visa applicants, by scheduling an appointment at a U.S. consulate abroad and paying the standard machine-readable visa fees.

During the consular interview, however, if a consular officer determines that the applicant otherwise qualifies for the B visa, the officer will inform the applicant of the bond requirement and notify them whether they must post a $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 bond. According to the State Department, consular officers will be expected to set bond at $10,000 but have the discretion to require a $5,000 or $15,000 bond if they deem it appropriate after taking into consideration an applicant’s purpose of travel, current employment, income, skills and education.

Next, the foreign national’s visa application will be temporarily refused and they will be directed to pay their bond online via Form I-352, using the Department of Treasury online payment portal, www.pay.gov. The bond can be paid by the applicant or on the applicant’s behalf by a single payer. It must be paid within 30 days of the visa interview, though, or the applicant may be called back in for another interview.

Once the bond is posted, the consular officer will do a final review to confirm the applicant’s eligibility for the visa. If approved, the visa will be valid for a maximum of three months and a single entry to the United States; the visa will also contain an annotation indicating that a visa bond has been posted for this foreign national.

Under the pilot program, consular officers will only have the authority to recommend waivers of the bond requirement in very limited circumstances, such as travel for U.S. government employees or urgent humanitarian needs. There will be no waiver application process; the recommendation would be based on the foreign national’s visa application and interview.

As a condition of the bond, visa holders will be required to enter and depart the United States through designated ports of entry only. These ports are currently identified by the State Department on travel.state.gov as Boston Logan International Airport, New York JFK International Airport, and Washington Dulles International Airport. The State Department says that it will provide 15 days’ notice before making changes to the list of designated ports of entry.

At these pre-selected ports, the bond annotation on the foreign national’s visa will alert CBP that a bond has been posted for the visa holder. CBP will then admit the foreign national into the United States for a maximum of 30 days.

Foreign nationals admitted under the pilot program will have their bond cancelled and full payment returned if they:

• Comply with all conditions of their status in the United States, including not accepting unauthorized employment; and
• Depart the United States before the expiration of their authorized stay, or timely and properly file an application for extension of stay or change of nonimmigrant status.

If a foreign national timely and properly files an extension of stay or change of nonimmigrant status request that is ultimately denied, the foreign national must depart the United States within 10 days of the denial in order to recover their bond payment.

The bond conditions do not end after an extension or change of status has been approved. Foreign nationals must abide by all of the terms and conditions of their extended or new status, and depart the United States before the expiration of their new authorized stay in order to obtain repayment of their B visa bond payment.

Upon compliance with the terms of a bond, it will generally be cancelled automatically following a foreign national’s timely departure from the United States. When the bond is cancelled, the full amount is refunded and the foreign national is provided a notice of immigration bond cancellation. There will be no accrued interest on bonds issued under the program.

The temporary final rule announcing the bond pilot program identifies the following foreign national actions as a breach of the bond conditions:

• Violating any condition of the foreign national’s status;
• Filing an unexcused, untimely application for extension of stay or change of status in the United States;
• Failing to depart the United States within 10 days of a denial of a timely and properly filed application for extension of stay or change of status; or
• Remaining in the United States after the expiration of the foreign national’s period of admission.

The State Department website announcement also states that filing an application to “adjust out of nonimmigrant status, including claiming asylum,” will be considered an automatic breach of bond conditions. This would include any kind of adjustment of status application, regardless of the basis, and any application that, if approved, would result in the foreign national no longer holding nonimmigrant status.

If the State Department makes a preliminary finding that a visa holder has not complied with the terms and conditions of their bond, the agency will forward the case to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – DHS makes the final decision on whether a bond was breached. If DHS finds a substantial violation of the terms and conditions of the bond, the bond payment will be forfeited and retained by the government. The foreign national will be notified of the decision and of the right to administratively appeal.

The State Department will implement the new B-1/B-2 Visa Bond Pilot Program for Malawi and Zambia starting August 20, and could add further countries to the program in the coming months.

The new bond requirement appears to be an additional payment for visa issuance on top of a new Visa Integrity fee that will soon be implemented for all nonimmigrant visa applications as a result of the recent budget reconciliation bill. The Visa Integrity fee will be at least $250 and will also function like a bond payment in that it will be reimbursed if the visa holder complies with their visa conditions and timely departs or extends their stay in the United States.