By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not been included on a list of 50 countries whose citizens may now be required to pay a financial bond of up to $20,000 before they can obtain a US visitor visa, under a scheme that the Trump administration has just converted from a temporary pilot into permanent policy.
The programme, which formally took effect on 3 August, applies to nationals of nations designated by the US State Department as having elevated rates of visa overstays. Pakistan is absent from that list, according to the version published in the Federal Register, Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Among South Asian nations, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal are all covered by the scheme. India, like Pakistan, is not included.
Afghanistan and Iran do not feature on the list either, though for a different reason: the United States does not maintain normal diplomatic relations with either country, meaning routine visa processing arrangements do not apply to their citizens in the same way.
How the bond scheme works
Under the finalised rule, consular officers have discretion to require applicants for B-1 business visas and B-2 tourist visas from the 50 listed countries to post a refundable bond before a visa is issued. The bond can be set at $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000, with officials expecting $15,000 to be the standard figure. A lower $10,000 bond may be applied where an applicant cannot afford the higher sum but can still demonstrate sufficient funds for the trip itself.
Crucially, the requirement is not automatic. Each case is assessed individually, with consular officers deciding at interview whether a bond is warranted based on an applicant’s individual circumstances, rather than imposing the condition on every applicant from a covered country as a blanket rule.
Anyone required to pay a bond must also complete a separate Department of Homeland Security form as part of the process. The money is refunded in full provided the visa holder complies with the terms of their stay and departs the United States before their authorised period expires, or properly files for an extension or change of status while still in the country. Those who overstay or otherwise breach their visa conditions risk forfeiting the deposit entirely.
The new permanent rule is notably stricter than the pilot scheme it replaces. That pilot, launched in August 2025, offered a lower minimum bond of $5,000, with a ceiling of $15,000. The permanent version scraps the $5,000 tier altogether and raises the maximum to $20,000.
Why the scheme has been made permanent
The State Department has justified the move by pointing to a sharp fall in overstay numbers during the year-long pilot. According to the department’s own figures, the 50 countries currently subject to the programme recorded 45,488 visa overstays in the 2024 financial year. Over the first ten months of the pilot scheme, that figure fell to fewer than 50.
Officials have also acknowledged that the policy has suppressed the overall number of visas being issued to applicants from covered countries, as some prospective travellers appear to be withdrawing from the process rather than pay the bond. Visa issuance rates for the relevant period reportedly fell by more than 80 per cent compared with the same period the previous year, though those who did pay and travel are said to have overwhelmingly complied with the terms of both their visa and their bond.
Washington has framed the requirement as more than a purely administrative measure. Officials have described it as a diplomatic instrument intended to press foreign governments into tightening their own identity verification and screening processes, and into taking greater responsibility for reducing overstay rates among their citizens, alongside the immediate financial deterrent it creates for individual applicants.
Which countries are affected
Thirty of the fifty nations on the list are in Africa. The remainder span Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and include Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, the Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, the 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.
The State Department has indicated that the list of covered countries is not fixed and is likely to change on a rolling basis, meaning nations could be added or removed as circumstances evolve.
Wider context for Pakistan
While Pakistan has avoided inclusion in the visa bond scheme, it remains subject to separate and more sweeping US immigration restrictions introduced earlier this year. In January, Washington suspended immigrant visa processing for Pakistan alongside 74 other countries, citing concerns about applicants relying on public welfare programmes or failing security vetting. That suspension covers family-based, employment-based and diversity immigrant visas, and is distinct from the business and tourist visa bond programme now made permanent.
Pakistani lawmakers have since lobbied US counterparts to have the country removed from that separate 75-nation list, arguing it has strained bilateral ties and hampered people-to-people contact between the two countries.
The bond programme itself has drawn criticism from immigration advocates, who argue it will discourage legitimate travel to the United States even among applicants who have no intention of overstaying. Administration officials maintain the policy is a necessary and proportionate response to documented overstay patterns and forms part of a broader tightening of both legal and illegal immigration pathways under President Trump, which has separately included new visa application fees and expanded social media vetting requirements for applicants.
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