Gambians and nationals of 23 other countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific regions would be required to pay a bond of up to $15, 000 to enable them travel to the United States on business and tourist visas.
The Trump administration’s reason for the new measure is to curb visa overstays, the US State Department said on Monday.
Business visa applicants are usually given a maximum one year stay in the US while tourist visas are limited to a maximum of six months.
US Embassy consulars would choose from three options regarding the amount of money to be paid which could be between a minimum of $5,000 and a maximum of $15,000 (D777, 300 at today’s exchange rate).
The new rule is a pilot programme and would run from December 24 to June 24 next year. It is mainly targeted at countries whose citizens have higher rates (more than 10%) of overstaying their B-1 visas for business travellers and B-2 visas for tourists.
According to the State Department, at the end of 2019, there were more than half a million suspected in-country overstays, that is, travellers who remained in the US past the end of their authorized stay and had yet to depart the country.
These people arrived in the US with non-immigrant visas (B1 & B2) by air or sea.
Countries to be affected by the rule include Afghanistan, Angola, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), Djibouti, Eritrea, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
Short stay visa applicants from these countries would be required to post a cash bond or arrange for a U.S. Government-approved surety company to post the bond on their behalf.
The move is seen as the Trump administration’s last effort to keep people from certain countries out of the US – having built a wall and banned nationals from several Muslim countries from visiting.
The incoming Biden administration is expected to scrap this new rule and other anti-immigration measures by the outgoing Trump administration, according to reports.
- Updated to add exchange rate in fourth paragraph.
