(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. state department expanded the visa bond Pilot Program this month to require some B1/B2 Visitor Visa applicants from 38 countries, including Bangladesh and Nepal, to post a refundable cash bond of up to $15,000 before a visa is issued, with the tighter rules set to take effect January 21, 2026.
“Any citizen or national traveling on a passport issued by one of these countries, who is found otherwise eligible for a B1/B2 visa, must post a bond for $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. The amount is determined at the time of the visa interview,” the State Department said in a statement dated Jan 8, 2026 on its Countries Subject to Visa Bonds page.
Officials have described the expansion as aimed at “strengthening compliance with U.S. visa laws” and as a “compliance tool rather than a penalty” meant to discourage overstays.
India remains exempt from the new bond requirement, even though it is a high-volume source of U.S. travelers, under what officials have framed as a threshold-based approach tied to overstay and compliance signals rather than travel volume alone.
Program background and legal mechanism
The program’s latest expansion was announced on January 6, 2026, after the pilot was launched in August 2025, and is governed by a Temporary Final Rule published by the State Department in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
A Temporary Final Rule, or TFR, is the mechanism the government is using to put pilot procedures into effect while testing compliance tools and deterrence measures, with the binding details laid out in the Federal Register notice, including the scope of the program and how it is administered.
the state department controls visa issuance decisions, while dhs controls inspection and admission at the border and the bond instruments tied to compliance and exit recording, a division that affects how travelers experience the policy from interview through departure.
The Federal Register notice, Visas: Visa Bond Pilot Program (Temporary Final Rule), is dated 2025/08/05 and provides the formal framework for the pilot.
How the bond works at interview and payment
At the visa interview, a consular officer can set a bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 after assessing an applicant’s risk, and the bond must be posted before the visa can be issued, adding a financial step to the standard eligibility process.
An immigration bond under the pilot functions as a compliance guarantee tied to visitor status terms, rather than a substitute for the legal requirements for a B1/B2 Visitor Visa, with the bond requirement applying only when an applicant is “found otherwise eligible” for the visa.
Bonds must be posted using DHS Form I-352 (Immigration Bond) and paid through the U.S. Treasury’s official portal, Pay.gov, linking the process directly to DHS-controlled payment and tracking systems.
For applicants, that sequencing can reshape trip planning because the bond is not an on-arrival payment; it comes after the interview decision and before a visa is issued, which can affect when travel can be booked with confidence.
Designated airports, entry/exit recording, and compliance
The pilot also ties compliance to how entry and exit are recorded, by requiring visa holders subject to a bond to use designated airports so their departure can be captured in U.S. systems and matched to the bond.
As of January 1, 2026, the designated ports of entry include JFK (New York), IAD (Washington D.C.), BOS (Boston), EWR (Newark), ATL (Atlanta), ORD (Chicago), LAX (Los Angeles), and select pre-clearance sites in Canada (YYZ, YUL).
Routing constraints can narrow options for travelers who would otherwise choose lower-cost or more direct itineraries, and can influence connections and fares if the nearest designated hub is not the most convenient airport.
Because bond cancellation and refund depend on departure being properly recorded, the designated-hub requirement turns entry and exit routing into part of compliance, not just a travel choice.
Policy intent and DHS role
DHS’s compliance lens is reflected in the policy’s stated purpose and in its use of overstay indicators, with the expansion targeting countries that the Department of Homeland Security’s Entry/Exit Overstay Report identifies as having high rates of B1/B2 overstays.
The State Department controls visa issuance, but DHS’s role at the border remains central because admission decisions are made during inspection and because the pilot’s compliance logic depends on DHS-controlled entry and exit tracking.
Affected countries and regional distribution
The list of affected countries spans multiple regions, with officials and policy summaries pointing to examples in South Asia, including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and to a list that is heavily weighted toward Africa, with examples including Nigeria, Senegal, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.
Other examples cited in the policy’s coverage include Venezuela, Cuba, Fiji, and Tajikistan, underscoring that the pilot is not limited to a single region and that the affected-country list can cut across different travel patterns.
Officials have framed India’s exemption as tied to overstay thresholds and historical compliance rather than sheer travel volume, noting India’s established “strong visa demand and historical compliance” as factors in its exemption.
Because the pilot is built around shifting lists and criteria, travelers need to verify the current country coverage through official State Department updates before booking travel or attending interviews.
Impact on individuals: financial and travel implications
The financial mechanics are straightforward but potentially heavy: the bond is refundable if the traveler complies, but it must be posted upfront, which can shift costs from after a trip to before a trip and may require families to assemble cash on short notice.
For travelers from Nepal and Bangladesh, the upfront cost of a trip could increase by over $15,000 (roughly 1.8 million BDT or 2 million NPR), according to the policy summary, even though the bond can also be set at $5,000 or $10,000.
Even as a refundable bond, the cash-flow impact can be substantial, because the funds are tied up until compliance is established through departure records and DHS systems.
The policy’s refund structure is compliance-driven: the bond is automatically cancelled and refunded if the traveler departs the U.S. on time and complies with all visa terms.
Forfeiture applies if an individual overstays, works without authorization, or applies for a status change, including asylum, according to the policy summary, a provision that can make lawful filings consequential for the bond outcome even as they remain distinct from the underlying legal options.
That intersection is one reason immigration lawyers often urge individualized legal advice for complex scenarios, because a bond’s conditions can be assessed through departure records and compliance checks, and outcomes may turn on how a case fits within DHS processes.
Related USCIS and interagency effects
The expansion also coincides with a separate DHS-linked move affecting immigration benefits processing, as USCIS issued an updated directive placing an immediate “hold and review” on pending immigration benefit requests for nationals of the same “high-risk” countries.
The USCIS memo is dated Jan 1, 2026 and is identified as PM-602-0192, issued under Presidential Proclamation 10998, and it covers pending benefit requests “such as extensions of stay or changes of status.”
USCIS administers immigration benefits rather than visitor visa issuance, but the directive signals how screening and risk-based review can ripple across agencies, with applicants and travelers potentially encountering heightened scrutiny at multiple points of contact.
Interview preparation and vetting requirements
The expansion’s design also places additional weight on interview preparation, because the bond decision is made at the visa interview and rests on the consular assessment of risk within the program’s tiers.
Applicants are now required to disclose five years of social media history and detailed family travel history as part of the broader “veting” process under the Trump administration’s updated entry proclamations, according to the policy summary.
Those disclosures can shape both the interview and the overall timeline, because inconsistent or incomplete answers can complicate eligibility determinations even before a bond is considered.
Practical travel effects and compliance tracking
The designated-hub requirement can create practical constraints for families traveling for short visits, because trip duration and flexibility may be shaped by limited routing options and by the need to align entry and exit records with the hubs used.
The government’s emphasis on compliance tracking is built into the mechanics of cancellation and refund, which depend on recorded departure and on adherence to visitor terms, including the prohibition on unauthorized work.
Travelers seeking to monitor official changes can start with the State Department’s country list page and then use the Federal Register notice to confirm the effective date, scope, and operational rules for the Visa Bond Pilot Program.
For broader immigration processing context, USCIS posts updates through its Updates and Policy Manual Changes page, though USCIS does not issue B1/B2 visitor visas and does not control consular bond determinations.
The changes now set for January 21, 2026 leave affected applicants with a narrow window to plan for a new upfront bond step, designated-airport routing, and tighter scrutiny, with Bangladesh and Nepal among the countries newly brought into the program’s expanded coverage.
The U.S. State Department’s expanded Visa Bond Pilot Program requires B1/B2 applicants from 38 high-overstay countries to post refundable bonds up to $15,000. Effective January 2026, the program aims to ensure compliance with visa terms. Bonds are set during interviews and refunded upon verified departure. India remains exempt. Compliance involves using specific airports for travel to ensure the Department of Homeland Security accurately records departures.
