The US Visa Bond Is Now Permanent: What B1/B2 Applicants From 50 Countries Need to Know
Last verified August 3, 2026. The designated country list is revised on a rolling basis, so confirm yours at travel.state.gov before you apply. Your specific case may have factors not covered here.
For a year, the US visa bond had an expiry date printed on it. It was a pilot, launched on 20 August 2025, and the reasonable thing to tell applicants was to wait it out. On 3 August 2026 the State Department published a final rule that removed the expiry date and raised the price. The bond is now a permanent part of the B-1/B-2 process, and the top tier is $20,000.
If you hold a passport from one of the 50 designated countries, this is the single most expensive condition that can be attached to a US visitor visa, and it is attached after you have already been found eligible. Below is what actually changed, who it reaches, and the mechanics that decide whether you get your money back.
From 3 August 2026, the US Visa Bond Program is permanent. Nationals of 50 designated countries who are found otherwise eligible for a B-1/B-2 visitor visa must post a refundable bond of $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 (up from $5,000 to $15,000 under the pilot) before the visa is issued, unless the requirement is waived. The officer sets the amount only after finding you otherwise eligible; use the form and direct Pay.gov link supplied by the consular officer. You must enter and leave through a commercial airport. The full amount is returned when you keep to the terms. If you leave before your visa expires, it comes back when the visa expires, not when you leave. Overstaying forfeits the entire bond.
| Status | Permanent final rule (22 CFR Part 41), effective 3 August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Who it covers | B-1 and B-2 applicants who are nationals of 50 designated countries |
| Amount | $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000, set by the consular officer ($15,000 default) |
| How to post it | Use the form and direct Pay.gov link supplied by the consular officer, after the amount is set |
| Travel condition | Commercial airports or CBP preclearance only; no charter flights, general aviation, land or sea |
| Refund | Full, once you have kept to the terms: when the visa expires if you have already left, or after your timely departure |
| Forfeiture | Entire amount, on a substantial violation: an overstay, a late filing, unauthorised work, or filing for asylum or other humanitarian protection (Form I-589) |
| Not covered | F, M, J, H, L, O and immigrant visa applicants |
What actually changed on 3 August
Two things, and the second one is the one people miss.
- • A temporary rule with a built-in end date
- • Bond tiers of $5,000 / $10,000 / $15,000
- • Started at 2 countries, grew to 50
- • Airports chosen for the pilot, announced by the State Department
- • Single entry, 3-month validity, 30-day admission
- • A permanent programme with no expiry
- • Bond tiers of $10,000 / $15,000 / $20,000
- • 50 countries, revised on a rolling basis
- • Any commercial airport, plus CBP preclearance
- • Three months or up to 12 months, single or multiple entry, by reciprocity
The price rise is the headline: every tier moved up by $5,000. The structural change is quieter and matters more. A pilot is something you wait out; a permanent programme is something you plan around. And because the bond attaches to a visa rather than to a trip, a family travelling together should budget on the assumption that each person issued a bonded visa ties up their own five-figure sum. The published rule does not say whether officers set bonds on children’s visas, so ask the post rather than assuming either way.
Who is covered
Coverage turns on two things at once, and both must be true. First, you are applying for a B-1 or B-2 visitor visa. Second, you are a national of a designated country. Nationality is what counts, not where you live and not the post where you interview, so moving your application to a third country does not move you out of the programme.
These are the 50 designated nationalities on the State Department list dated 18 March 2026, the 38 from the January revision plus 12 added with effect from 2 April:
- Algeria
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bangladesh
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Botswana
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Central African Republic
- Cote 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
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tonga
- Tunisia
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Source: US Department of State, countries subject to visa bonds, list dated 18 March 2026. Revised on a rolling basis; confirm before applying.
Thirty of the fifty are African countries. The list also reaches South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan), the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada), Central America (Nicaragua), the Pacific (Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea), Central Asia and the Caucasus (Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Georgia), and Venezuela.
What the bond does not touch
The programme is B-1/B-2 only. F-1 and M-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, H-1B, L-1 and O-1 workers, and immigrant visa applicants are outside it, even if they hold a designated passport. If you are a Nepali student or a Nigerian H-1B candidate, no bond attaches to that application. Other 2026 restrictions may still apply to your nationality, and for several countries on this list they do, so read the bond rule alongside them rather than in place of them.
How much, and who decides
The consular officer sets the amount at $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000. Officers are expected to set $15,000. The rule gives $10,000 where the officer has reason to believe you could not pay $15,000 yet can still fund the trip, and $20,000 where your circumstances, including the nature and extent of your contacts in the United States, suggest $15,000 would not be enough to ensure you leave on time. In deciding, officers take into account the totality of the circumstances, including what you say on the form and at interview about your purpose of travel, current employment, income, skills, and education.
| Cost | Amount | Refundable? |
|---|---|---|
| MRV application fee | $185 | Never |
| Visa Integrity Fee | $250, when collection begins at your post | Narrow conditions only |
| Visa bond | $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 | Yes, in full, on compliance |
The ordering matters more than the arithmetic. You cannot pre-pay a bond and you cannot volunteer one to strengthen a weak case. The officer only raises it after deciding you are otherwise eligible for the visa. If you are refused under Section 214(b), no bond ever arises, because there is no visa to attach it to. That means the bond is not a way around the 214(b) question; it sits on the far side of one. You cannot apply for a waiver either: the rule says there is no waiver application process, and leaves any waiver to the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs or a designate.
The conditions attached to a bonded visa
Commercial airports only, in and out
You must enter and leave through a commercial airport of entry; the rule also permits CBP Preclearance locations. The State Department’s current instructions prohibit charter flights, general aviation, and land or sea ports of entry for visa bond holders. The rule allows a trip to a neighbouring country after your first entry only where it meets the automatic revalidation rules, and your final departure must still be from a commercial US airport, so check before you plan a drive to Canada or a cruise.
Entries, validity and length of stay
Under the pilot, a bonded visa was valid for a single entry within three months, and CBP limited admission to 30 days. The permanent rule is looser: the officer may issue the visa for three months with a single entry, three months with multiple entries, or up to 12 months with multiple entries, depending on visa reciprocity, with an annotation showing that a bond was posted. It also says CBP officers will generally admit the traveller and grant the admission period requested. Read the annotation on your own visa for its entries and validity.
Your I-94 is the clock that counts
Visa validity is not permission to stay. The CBP officer at the port of entry sets your admit-until date and records it on the I-94. That date, not the visa, decides whether you overstay, and an overstay is what forfeits the bond. Check it at i94.cbp.dhs.gov after every single entry, because a misread I-94 is now a five-figure mistake.
Getting your money back
The bond is refundable, and the rule reports that travellers who paid one and were issued a visa overwhelmingly complied with its terms. The full amount is returned in any of these cases:
- You depart on time through a qualifying commercial airport, within the stay authorised on your I-94.
- You file on time and properly to extend your stay or change status, and then leave by the new date if the request is approved. If it is refused, you have 10 days to leave before that becomes a breach.
- Your visa expires unused because you never travelled.
- You are refused admission at the port of entry and the visa is cancelled.
The rule sets no processing time, but it does fix what triggers the return. If you leave before your visa expires, the bond is returned when the visa expires, not when you leave. If the visa expired while you were lawfully in the United States, it is returned after your timely departure through a commercial airport. The money goes back to the original form of payment in US dollars, without interest, and any exchange fees are yours. Keep the bond payment receipt and the bond reference number, because chasing a refund without them is painful. If you plan to ask to extend your stay or change status, note that the rule says USCIS may treat the existence of a bond as a negative factor when it decides that request, so file early and do not count on it being approved.
Forfeiture is all or nothing.
The final rule lists what breaches the bond: staying beyond the period of admission on your I-94; filing an untimely request to extend your stay or change status; not leaving within 10 days after a timely and properly filed request is refused; a substantial violation of the conditions of your status, which includes unauthorised work; and filing for asylum or other humanitarian protection on Form I-589. The whole amount is forfeited on a substantial violation; the rule has no partial forfeiture. The Department of Homeland Security makes the final decision, and that decision can be appealed. And because the return depends on a DHS system recording your departure through a commercial airport, leaving by a route the programme does not permit can cost you the money even though you genuinely left.
Applying from a designated country?
Start a free Smart Visa Checklist. Tell us your nationality, purpose, and travel dates, and we map the documents and deadlines that apply to your case, including the ones a bonded application turns on.
Build My Free Checklist →Why the government says it is keeping this
The State Department’s case rests on the overstay numbers, and they are striking. In FY2024, travellers from the 50 countries now on the list produced 45,488 overstays. In the first ten months of the bond pilot, overstays from those same countries numbered fewer than 50.
The other half of that picture is the one applicants feel. Over the same period, B-visa issuance to the designated countries fell roughly 83% against the year before, and the rule says that of about 20,000 applications found to require a bond, close to half resulted in a bond payment. It also says that those who paid a bond and were issued a visa overwhelmingly complied. Both readings are true at once: the people who take the bond overwhelmingly comply, and the bond keeps many people from travelling at all.
What to do now
Before you apply
- • Check today’s country list, not a cached one
- • Decide your ceiling before the interview
- • Plan for the money to be locked up for months
- • Build the 214(b) case first; the bond comes after
- • Price the trip at $185 + $250 + the bond
If a bond is set
- • Use the officer’s form and Pay.gov link; keep the receipt
- • Read the annotation on the visa foil carefully
- • Use commercial flights; no charter, general aviation, land or sea
- • Check the I-94 admit-until date after landing
- • File any extension early, never late
Applying from one of the designated countries? Our corridor guides for Nigeria to the US and Nepal to the US cover the local process, and the B1/B2 strategy guide covers the 214(b) case you have to win before the bond question is ever asked.
Frequently asked questions
Is the US visa bond programme permanent now?
Yes. On 3 August 2026 the Department of State published a final rule amending 22 CFR Part 41 that makes the Visa Bond Program permanent, effective the same day. It finalises the temporary rule that started the pilot on 20 August 2025. The practical difference is that the programme no longer has a built-in expiry date, so applicants and employers should plan around it as a standing feature of the B-1/B-2 process rather than a temporary measure that will lapse on its own.
How much is the US visa bond in 2026?
The consular officer sets the bond at $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000. The final rule raised each tier by $5,000 from the pilot amounts of $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000. Officers are expected to set $15,000; the rule gives $10,000 where an applicant could not pay that yet can still fund the trip, and $20,000 where the applicant’s circumstances suggest $15,000 would not be enough to ensure a timely departure. Officers take into account the totality of the circumstances, including your stated purpose of travel, current employment, income, skills, and education. The bond is separate from and additional to the $185 MRV application fee, which is never refundable.
Which countries are subject to the US visa bond?
As of the State Department’s list dated 18 March 2026, 50 countries are designated: Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Cote 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, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The list is revised on a rolling basis, so check travel.state.gov for the current version before you apply. Designation follows your nationality, not where you live or where you apply.
Does the bond apply to student, work, or immigrant visas?
No. The programme covers B-1 (business) and B-2 (tourism, family visits, medical treatment) applicants only, including the combined B-1/B-2. F-1 and M-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, H-1B, L-1, and O-1 workers, and immigrant visa applicants are outside it. Being a national of a designated country does not put a bond on a student or work visa, though other 2026 restrictions may apply to your nationality separately.
How do I pay a US visa bond?
You do not pay it up front and you cannot volunteer to pay it to improve your odds. The sequence is: you apply and interview as normal, and only if the consular officer finds you otherwise eligible for the visa are you told a bond is required and at what amount. The official sources use different form names: the 3 August 2026 final rule names I-352B, while the State Department applicant page updated on 2 October 2026 names I-352. Use the form and direct Pay.gov link supplied by the consular officer, only when directed to post the bond. Ask the issuing post if its instructions are unclear. The visa is issued after the bond is posted and accepted. If you are refused under Section 214(b), no bond arises, because there is no visa to condition.
How do I get my visa bond money back?
The bond is returned in full when you comply with its terms. The final rule lists when: when the visa expires, if you never travelled; when the visa expires, if you have left through a commercial airport and kept to the terms of the visa; after your timely departure through a commercial airport, if the visa expired while you were lawfully in the United States; after your timely departure through a commercial airport before the new date, if a request to extend your stay or change status was approved; or after CBP finds you inadmissible at the port of entry and cancels the visa. So if you leave before the visa expires, the bond comes back when the visa expires, not when you leave. The money is returned to the original form of payment in US dollars, without interest, and any exchange fees are yours; the rule notes that the return can be offset against past-due debts owed to US federal and state agencies. Your departure has to be recorded by a DHS system, which is why the port-of-entry conditions matter so much.
When is a visa bond forfeited?
The whole amount is forfeited on a substantial violation of the bond’s terms. The final rule lists the violations: remaining in the United States beyond the period of admission on your I-94; filing an untimely request to extend your stay or change status; not leaving within 10 days after a timely and properly filed request is refused; a substantial violation of the conditions of your status, which includes working without authorisation; and filing for asylum or other humanitarian protection on Form I-589. There is no partial forfeiture in the rule. The Department of Homeland Security makes the final decision and notifies the person who posted the bond, and that decision can be appealed.
Can I enter through any US airport with a bonded visa?
You must enter and leave through a commercial airport of entry; the rule also permits CBP Preclearance locations. The State Department’s current instructions prohibit charter flights, general aviation, and land or sea ports of entry for visa bond holders. Using another route risks being refused entry, or having your departure go unrecorded, which puts the refund at risk even though you left.
Is the bonded visa still single entry and 30 days?
Not necessarily. Under the pilot, a bonded visa was valid for a single entry within three months of issuance, and CBP limited admission to 30 days. Under the permanent rule the officer may issue the visa for three months with a single entry, three months with multiple entries, or up to 12 months with multiple entries, depending on visa reciprocity, and the rule says CBP officers will generally admit the traveller and grant the admission period requested. The annotation printed on your visa shows its entries and validity, and the admit-until date on your I-94 shows how long you may stay. Check the I-94 at i94.cbp.dhs.gov after every entry.
Should I just skip the bond and apply elsewhere?
You cannot escape a bond by applying in a third country, because designation tracks your nationality rather than your place of application or residence. What the data does show is that close to half of the applications found to require a bond resulted in a bond payment, and B-visa issuance to the 50 designated countries fell about 83% over the pilot’s first ten months against the same period a year earlier. The decision is a real cost-benefit call about tying up a five-figure sum, but it should be made after an approval, not by pre-emptively avoiding the application.
A bond is only asked of applicants who already cleared the hard part
No bond is set on a refused application. The question that decides your case is still Section 214(b), and it is answered from your documents before anyone mentions money. TravelReady maps what your corridor actually requires, and Officer’s Read reviews your file the way a consular officer will, flagging what would be questioned before you submit.
What we check that this article can’t:
- →Whether your financial story reads as consistent to a US officer, line by line
- →Which ties evidence your specific consulate questions most often
- →Where your itinerary or funds would read as a 214(b) risk before a bond is ever discussed
Free Smart Visa Checklist. Document validation from $67. No subscription. No approval is ever guaranteed, because that’s the officer’s call; our job is to get you ready for it.
Sources
Every claim above traces to a named source. Rules change, so confirm the current position at the official links before you act.
- State Department final rule: Visas: Visa Bond Program, Federal Register (3 August 2026)
- The pilot it replaced: Visas: Visa Bond Pilot Program, Federal Register (5 August 2025)
- Current applicant instructions, form name and port restrictions: Countries Subject to Visa Bonds, travel.state.gov (checked 19 October 2026)
- State Department announcement of the expansion to 50 countries (18 March 2026)
- Fragomen: State Department Makes Permanent B-1/B-2 Visa Bond Program and Increases Bond Amounts (tiers, refund and breach conditions)
- BAL: State Department Expands List of Countries and Designated Ports of Entry (commercial airport condition)
- PBS NewsHour: U.S. will make visa bond program permanent, affecting mostly African countries (overstay figures)
- Skift: U.S. Makes Visa Bond Program Permanent, Visas Granted to Targeted Countries Drop 83% (issuance decline)
This article is general information for visa applicants, not legal advice. Bond amounts, the designated country list, and the conditions attached to a bonded visa can change without notice. Confirm the current rule with the official sources above or a licensed immigration attorney before you act. Last verified: 2026-08-03.