August 6, 2025 | 10:23 pm
The administration of Donald Trump has implemented a new policy for U.S. visa applicants. According to Reuters, within the next two weeks, the United States will require applicants for tourist and business visas to deposit a bond of up to US$15,000, which is approximately Rp245 million.
As reported by Al Jazeera, the policy will initially affect tourists from Zambia and Malawi, countries with high rates of visa overstay violations in the U.S. Visitors from these nations will be required to pay a fee ranging from US$5,000 to US$15,000 during their visa interviews to gain entry into the U.S.
The deposit will be fully refunded if the visitor leaves the U.S. on or before their visa expires. The bond will also be returned if the visa is canceled, if travel plans are abandoned, or if the applicant is denied entry into the U.S.
However, if a visitor overstays their authorized period or applies for asylum or other immigration programs while in the country, the U.S. government will forfeit the deposit.
The bond requirement for Malawi and Zambia is scheduled to take effect on August 20, 2025, and other countries are expected to be added to the list soon.
"This targeted, common-sense measure reinforces the administration’s commitment to US immigration law while deterring visa overstays," stated Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday.
A Firm Stance on Immigration
Since the beginning of his second term in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has adopted a firm stance on immigration. During his first term, Trump signed an executive order titled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," in which he criticized the high influx of illegal immigration into the U.S.
The U.S. government has pledged to rigorously enforce immigration laws, and this executive order ultimately served as the foundation for the new U.S. visa bond.
Annually, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) releases a report on visa overstays in the U.S. The most recent report, for fiscal year 2023, identified 565,155 cases of visa overstays. This number accounts for just 1.45 percent of the total non-immigrant admissions to the U.S.
Country-specific data, however, show that Malawi and Zambia have relatively high visa overstay rates, at 14.3 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively. It is worth noting that both countries have a comparatively small number of tourist and business arrivals in the U.S.
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