The United States has updated its visa bond requirements for nationals of 50 countries, with some B-1/B-2 visitor visa applicants now required to deposit as much as $20,000 before their visa can be issued.
The U.S. Department of State updated its official list on October 2, 2026, confirming that nationals of the affected countries who are otherwise eligible for a B-1/B-2 business or tourist visa must post a bond of $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000. The exact amount is decided by a consular officer during the visa process.
The payment is not an additional visa application fee. It is a financial bond intended to encourage visitors to respect the conditions of their visa and leave the United States on time. Where all conditions are met, the bond can be returned.
The latest update follows a major change made in August, when the United States converted its temporary visa bond pilot into a permanent visa bond programme.
What Changed?
Until August 2026, the visa bond system operated as a pilot programme. Under the earlier arrangement, affected applicants could be required to provide bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000.
A Department of State final rule published on August 3, 2026 made the programme permanent and changed the available bond levels to:
- $10,000
- $15,000
- $20,000
The $5,000 level has therefore disappeared, while the maximum potential bond has risen from $15,000 to $20,000.
The State Department’s October 2 webpage update now reflects these higher amounts.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association also reported on October 2 that the list of affected countries itself had not changed, while the bond amounts were updated to reflect the permanent final rule.
50 Countries Affected
The State Department currently lists 50 countries whose nationals are subject to the visa bond requirement. They are:
Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyz Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
For Visa Guru’s South Asian audience, two countries on the list are particularly important: Bangladesh and Nepal. At the time of writing, Pakistan and India are not included on the State Department’s list of 50 countries.
However, the list is not necessarily permanent. Under the final rule, the State Department can modify covered countries on a rolling basis. When a new country is added, the Department says it will normally announce the addition at least 15 days before implementation. A country can be removed with immediate effect.
Who Must Pay?
The requirement is specifically connected to B-1/B-2 visitor visas.
These visas are generally used for temporary:
- business visits;
- tourism;
- family visits;
- holidays;
- certain medical visits; and
- other permitted temporary visitor activities.
It is not a general bond imposed on every category of U.S. visa. The State Department says a citizen or national travelling on a passport issued by one of the listed countries, who is otherwise eligible for a B-1/B-2 visa, must post the applicable bond.
Importantly, the requirement applies regardless of where the person submits the visa application. Applying through a U.S. embassy or consulate in another country therefore does not by itself avoid the bond requirement.
How Much?
The consular officer determines which of the three bond levels applies:
$10,000, $15,000 or $20,000.
The applicant cannot simply choose the lowest amount. The permanent rule permits consular officers to determine the level according to the applicant’s circumstances within the programme’s framework.
Applicants should also understand that posting the bond does not guarantee that a U.S. visa will be issued. The State Department specifically warns applicants not to pay a bond before being instructed to do so by a consular officer. Money sent without official instructions may not be refundable.
How To Pay
An applicant required to provide a bond must use DHS Form I-352, Immigration Bond. The applicant should wait until the consular officer provides instructions and a direct payment link. Payment is then handled through the U.S. Treasury’s Pay.gov system.
The State Department has warned applicants against using unofficial websites or intermediaries claiming that they can collect the visa bond on behalf of the U.S. government.
This warning is particularly important because a payment of $10,000 to $20,000 creates an obvious opportunity for visa-related scams. Applicants should therefore make no payment until specifically instructed during the official visa process.
Someone Else Can Pay
One useful clarification in the October update concerns third-party payments.
The State Department says the bond may be paid by:
- the visa applicant;
- a friend;
- a family member;
- a business associate; or
- another third party.
That person may be located either inside or outside the applicant’s home country. However, there is an important condition. The person listed as the obligor on Form I-352 must be the same person making the payment.
If the visa holder complies with the bond conditions and the money becomes refundable, the refund goes to the person who posted the bond.
All payments and refunds are made in U.S. dollars, meaning the person paying also carries any risk from exchange-rate movements.
Travel Restrictions
Paying the bond also affects how the traveller can enter and leave the United States. Furthermore, the State Department’s current instructions say visa bond holders must use commercial air ports of entry, including eligible U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance locations.
Bond holders may not satisfy the programme’s entry and departure conditions through:
- land borders;
- sea ports;
- charter flights; or
- general aviation.
This is more than a minor travel condition.
A bonded traveller planning, for example, to enter the United States by air but later leave across the Canadian or Mexican land border could create serious problems with the recording of the departure and the bond.
Travellers subject to a bond should therefore plan their entire arrival and departure route before travelling.
Getting Money Back
The bond is designed to be refundable when the visa holder respects the conditions attached to it.
According to the State Department, cancellation and refund can occur in several situations, including where the visa expires without the person travelling to the United States.
It may also be returned when the person visits the United States, leaves within the permitted period through the required commercial-air system and complies with the visa and bond conditions.
Departure information is tracked through the Department of Homeland Security’s Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS).
The bond may also be cancelled following timely departure where an approved extension or change of status changes the person’s original authorised stay, provided the relevant conditions have been followed.
When Can It Be Lost?
Failure to comply with immigration status or departure requirements can result in the case being referred for a determination that the bond has been breached.
The State Department identifies several potential breaches. These include remaining in the United States beyond the authorised period of admission and certain failures connected with applications to extend or change non-immigrant status.
The updated State Department guidance also lists filing Form I-589 for asylum or another form of humanitarian protection covered by that form among circumstances that can lead to a potential visa-bond breach determination.
Anyone subject to a visa bond who is considering changing status, extending a stay or making a humanitarian application should therefore understand that there can be consequences for the bond itself, separate from whether the immigration application is otherwise legally available.
Why America Uses Bonds
The U.S. government says the programme is intended primarily to reduce visitor-visa overstays and encourage better cooperation from countries on identity verification, screening, document security and information sharing.
Department of Homeland Security data cited in the final rule recorded more than 480,000 suspected in-country overstays among non-immigrants admitted through air and sea ports in fiscal year 2024.
For the specific category of non-Visa Waiver Program B-1/B-2 visitors covered by the statistics cited in the regulation, the Department reported 269,382 overstays in FY2024, down from 314,111 in FY2023 and 504,636 in FY2022.
The government says the visa-bond pilot produced a major change among the countries included. According to the final rule, the 50 countries that eventually entered the pilot recorded 45,488 overstays in FY2024. During the first ten months of the bond pilot, the number of overstays was reported as fewer than 50.
However, the programme also significantly reduced visa issuance. The State Department said B-1/B-2 visa issuances for pilot-programme countries had fallen by 83% during the first ten months compared with the same period a year earlier.
Around 20,000 applications were determined to require a visa bond during the pilot, but close to half did not ultimately result in payment. Those who did post bonds generated approximately $115 million in temporary bond deposits, according to the government’s regulatory analysis.
That illustrates the practical effect of the policy: even when the money is ultimately refundable, finding $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 upfront can be a substantial obstacle for an ordinary tourist or family visitor.
World Cup Exception Removed
The State Department’s previous version of the guidance contained a section dealing with exemptions for certain 2026 FIFA World Cup travellers.
AILA reported that the State Department removed that World Cup exception section as part of the October 2 update.
The World Cup itself had already taken place earlier in 2026, so travellers should now rely on the State Department’s current published bond instructions rather than older versions of the webpage circulating online.
What Applicants Should Do
Nationals of the 50 affected countries should not send money simply because they intend to apply for a U.S. tourist visa.
They should first submit their visa application and follow the normal consular process. If the applicant is otherwise eligible and a bond is required, the consular officer will tell the applicant:
- that a bond is required;
- the amount;
- how to complete Form I-352; and
- how to make the official payment.
Applicants should use only the official payment instructions supplied through the U.S. government system. Anyone who pays a supposed visa bond to an unofficial agent, website or third-party payment service risks losing that money.
What Happens Next?
The programme is no longer merely a temporary experiment. The August 3, 2026 final rule made the visa bond programme permanent, meaning affected travellers should not assume that the requirement will automatically disappear after a short period. The country list can nevertheless change.
For that reason, anyone planning a B-1/B-2 application should check the State Department’s current list immediately before applying, particularly if their country has experienced high U.S. visitor-visa overstay rates or concerns relating to identity verification and information sharing.
For now, the October 2 update leaves the number of affected countries at 50, while confirming a considerably tougher financial structure: the minimum listed bond is now $10,000, and the maximum is $20,000.
For many affected visitors, that upfront deposit may become as important to their travel planning as the visa application itself.