The new additions are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles and Tunisia. That pushes the program from 38 countries to 50 and further broadens a rule that began as a limited pilot.
What the US visa bond expansion changes April 2
Under the State Department’s updated country list, citizens or nationals traveling on passports issued by any listed country who are otherwise eligible for a B-1/B-2 visa can be told to post a bond during the consular process, regardless of where they apply. The department says affected applicants “must post a bond for $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000,” and warns that “a bond does not guarantee visa issuance.”
The money is only part of the change. The same State Department notice says visa bond travelers must enter and leave through commercial air ports of entry, including preclearance sites, and cannot use land, sea, charter or general aviation entry points. The bond is returned if DHS records a timely departure, if the traveler never uses the visa, or if admission is denied at the port of entry.
Why the US visa bond list keeps growing
The legal basis for the policy remains the 2025 temporary final rule, which lets consular officers impose bonds on certain B-1/B-2 applicants from countries identified for high overstay rates, deficient screening and vetting, or citizenship-by-investment programs without residency requirements. That rule also says visas issued under the pilot are single-entry, usable within three months of issuance and generally limited by Customs and Border Protection to 30 days in the United States.
The State Department ties the country designations to the FY 2023 Entry/Exit Overstay Report for B-1/B-2 travelers, and the rule allows the country list to be changed on a rolling basis through Aug. 5, 2026.
This policy has a longer runway than the latest headline suggests. Reuters reported in November 2020 that the first Trump administration issued a similar temporary rule, then reported in August 2025 that a new one-year pilot was about to start, and reported again in January 2026 that the roster had already expanded to 38 countries before this latest addition pushed the total to 50.
For travelers, the immediate takeaway is straightforward: the U.S. visitor visa process can now include a large refundable cash bond, a narrower travel window and stricter entry-and-exit rules even for short business or tourism trips.
