Four Caribbean countries affected as US$20,000 Visa Bond programme made permanent
A Visa Bond Programme requiring nationals from specific countries to pay up to US$20,000 before being granted a United States (US) Visa will become permanent on August 3 after what the US government says is a successful pilot.
Four Caribbean countries – Cuba, Dominica, Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda – are included in the list of 50 countries.
The Antigua and Barbuda Government has already announced it is lobbying heavily for a rollback of the requirements for its citizens.
The programme was initially launched in 2025 in an effort to prevent overstaying.
The US State Department in a draft notice on Friday, revealed that the decision to make the rule permanent was taken after the programme “provided sufficient data to suggest that a visa bond program is an effective tool for enforcing compliance among bonded visa holders,” US media has reported.
The bond, which is returned to travellers once they exit the country on time, can be between US$10,000 to US$20,000 at the discretion of consular officers.
The full list of countries that were included in the preliminary programme and could be affected is as follows:
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
Zimbabwe
