{"id":7016,"date":"2026-01-07T08:18:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7016"},"modified":"2026-01-07T08:18:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:18:56","slug":"u-s-expands-visa-bond-rule-to-38-countries-adding-bangladesh-deposits-up-to-15000-from-jan-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7016","title":{"rendered":"U.S. expands visa-bond rule to 38 countries, adding Bangladesh; deposits up to $15,000 from Jan 21"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United States has expanded its \u201cvisa bond\u201d requirement to 38 countries\u2014now including Bangladesh\u2014requiring certain B-1\/B-2 (business\/tourist) applicants to post a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. The State Department\u2019s travel website posted the update on Tuesday, with the new condition taking effect for most newly added countries on <strong>21 January<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials say the bond is intended to deter overstays; paying it <strong>does not guarantee<\/strong> visa issuance. If an application is refused\u2014or if a visa holder complies fully with all terms\u2014the bond is refundable. The bond amount, set during the consular interview, must be lodged by agreeing to terms via the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Pay.gov platform and submitting DHS Form <strong>I-352<\/strong>. Applicants must appear <strong>in person<\/strong> for interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Bangladeshis, the maximum bond equals roughly <strong>BDT 1.835 million<\/strong> (at USD 15,000 \u2248 BDT 18,35,000 using a rate of 122.31). The rule applies regardless of where the applicant files and, if issued, may restrict entry\/exit to designated ports such as <strong>Boston Logan (BOS)<\/strong>, <strong>New York JFK<\/strong>, and <strong>Washington Dulles (IAD)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expansion\u2014part of broader Trump-administration tightening\u2014adds 25 countries to an earlier list first unveiled in August and then widened once more, bringing the total to 38. Newly listed countries include <strong>Bangladesh, Algeria, Angola, Antigua &amp; Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Gabon, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.<\/strong> They join earlier additions such as <strong>Bhutan, Botswana, Central African Republic, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 &amp; Pr\u00edncipe, Tanzania, Turkmenistan, and Zambia.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. officials argue the bond\u2014capped at $15,000\u2014will curb overstay risks, while critics say the requirement sharply raises costs for legitimate travel and does not assure visa approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States has expanded its \u201cvisa bond\u201d requirement to 38 countries\u2014now including Bangladesh\u2014requiring certain B-1\/B-2 (business\/tourist) applicants to post a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. The State Department\u2019s travel website posted the update on Tuesday, with the new condition taking effect for most newly added countries on 21 January. Officials say the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7020,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7016\/revisions\/7020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}