Nigeria Has Been Exempted From The US Visa Bond Policy.
To refute reports that Nigerians must pay between $5,000 and $15,000 in bonds to obtain visas, the US Embassy in Nigeria published a clarification on Tuesday.
The American government has stated that “Nigeria is not included among countries whose nationals would be required to pay as much as a $15,000 bond as a condition for a visa to the U.S.”
The interim final rule, which goes into effect on December 24 and lasts through June 24 of 2021, according to the U.S. State Department, targets nations whose citizens have greater rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and B-1 visas for business travelers. The six-month trial initiative, according to the Trump administration, aims to assess the viability of collecting such bonds and will act as a diplomatic deterrent to visa overstaying.
What it implies
The visa bond rule will enable U.S. Consular officers to request a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 from tourist and business visitors from nations whose citizens had a “overstay rate” of 10% or greater in 2019.
These conditions are met by twenty-four nations, including fifteen African nations.
Despite having higher overstay rates, those countries sent very few tourists to the US.
According to State Department instructions, processing bonds would be “cumbersome,” thus consular personnel have always been discouraged from compelling visitors to the United States to post a bond, according to the temporary rule.
According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report for that fiscal year, Chad (44.94%), Djibouti (37.91%), and Mauritania (30.49%) consistently produced the worst offenders. There are 24 countries, and 15 of them are in Africa.
However, the list also includes Bhutan, Laos, Iran (21.64%), Afghanistan (11.99%), and Bhutan.
More than 422,000 overstays by business and tourist visitors—both those who entered through the Visa Waiver Program and those who did not—were recorded in the DHS report for the 2019 fiscal year.
In an effort to reduce overstays and develop a system for collecting the de facto deposits upon departure, a pilot program that will last through June is being prepared.
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