WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has added seven more countries to the list of nations whose passport holders must post bonds of up to US$15,000 to enter the United States.
Thirteen countries, all but two of them in Africa, are now on the list, which makes the process of obtaining a U.S. visa unaffordable for many.
The U.S. State Department quietly added Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, and Turkmenistan to its list of designated countries last week. The changes took effect on January 1, according to a notice on the travel.state.gov website.
As part of tighter entry rules, the Trump administration has ordered visa applicants from all countries that require visas to attend in-person interviews and provide years of social media history, along with detailed information about their own and their families' past travel and places of residence.
U.S. officials have defended visa bonds ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, saying they are meant to prevent people from overstaying their visas. Paying the bond does not guarantee a visa, but the money is refunded if the visa is denied or if the applicant follows the visa rules.
Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tanzania, Gambia, Malawi, and Zambia were added to the list earlier, in August and October last year.
