Uganda is among 25 countries newly required to post bonds of up to $15,000 (Sh1.9 million) to apply for entry to the United States, authorities have announced.<\/p>\n
\nThe US State Department published the fresh list on its official website on Tuesday, announcing the new enforcement as part of the country’s Visa Bond Programme. The changes, set to take effect on January 21, are expected to increase the cost of obtaining US visas.<\/p>\n
\nThe extension covers countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas. In Africa, these include Angola, Benin, Burundi, Gabon, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
\nThey join previously listed African nations, including Botswana, the Central African Republic, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania and Zambia.<\/p>\n
\nBangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Tajikistan were added from the Asia region, while Cuba, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Venezuela represented the Latin America and Caribbean regions.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAny citizen or national travelling 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 (Sh645,000), $10,000 (Sh1.3 million), or $15,000 (Sh1.9 million),\u201d the State Department notice reads.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe amount is determined at the time of the visa interview, and applicants must agree to the terms of the bond through the Department of the Treasury\u2019s online payment platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nPaying the bond does not guarantee that a visa will be approved. However, the bond is returned if the visa is denied or once the holder follows all visa conditions.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cA bond does not guarantee visa issuance. \u00a0If someone pays fees without a consular officer\u2019s direction, the fees will not be returned,\u201d said the US State Department.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThey must not use any third-party website for posting the bond. \u00a0The US Government is not responsible for any money paid outside of its systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe development marks Washington’s continued effort to tighten US visa rules for foreign travellers under President Donald Trump\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
\nApplicants from countries subject to visa requirements are now expected to attend in-person interviews and provide detailed information about their social media activity, past travel, and family living arrangements.<\/p>\n
\nUS officials have maintained that the bonds are intended to ensure applicants comply with visa rules and do not overstay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uganda is among 25 countries newly required to post bonds of up to $15,000 (Sh1.9 million) to apply…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[63,84,153,6351,6353,5582,6354,6352,929],"class_list":{"0":"post-9130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uganda","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-uganda","11":"tag-us-adds-uganda-to-visa-bond-list-requiring-up-to-sh1-9-million-deposits-for-applicants","12":"tag-us-immigration-laws","13":"tag-us-state-department","14":"tag-us-visa-bonds","15":"tag-us-visas","16":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}