By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
The United States (US) Department of State has issued a public notice highlighting that Nationals from 23 countries including the Gambia will have to pay a $15,000 USD visa bond to visit the US from 24th December 2020 (Christmas Eve). The program dubbed “Visa Bond Pilot Program” is scheduled to last for six months and will run “through June 24, 2021”.
The visa bond requirement will affect 15 African countries and 8 other countries which the US says have an “overstay rate of ten percent or higher in Fiscal Year 2019, according to the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] FY [Fiscal Year] 2019 Overstay Report”. The visa bond will affect travellers seeking to secure a “temporary business visitor/tourist (B-1/B-2) visa”.
The countries affected are namely: “Afghanistan, Angola, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Chad, the 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.”
The Public Notice numbered 11218 states that “Visa Applicants falling within the scope of the Pilot Program to post a bond in the amount of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a condition of visa issuance. The amount of the bond, should a bond be appropriate, will be determined by the consular officer based on the circumstances of the visa applicant”.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://gainako.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/US-Travel-Bon-USD15K.pdf” title=”US Department of State Public Notice 11218″]
Why Are We Having People From Sh!thole Countries?
Two years ago President Trump called Haiti and African countries “Sh!thole” countries whose citizens shouldn’t be allowed to travel to the US. “Why are we having all these people from Sh!thole countries come here? We should have more people from Norway”. According to CNN, NBC and multiple US-based news networks the President made these remarks at a White House meeting with a bipartisan group of Senators. With approximately two months to go, Outgoing-President Trump has followed through on his threat by slamming a $15K visa bond on at least 15 African Countries including the Gambia.
It’s worth noting that Haiti and Mexico are both not on the list of countries that will be affected by this visa bond. Mexico has also come under intense pressure from President Trump as he continues to reinforce his border wall on the southern US Border.
US Immigration Policy
The Public Notice highlights that the US plans to use the Visa Bond program “to address the national security and foreign policy objectives articulated in the Presidential Memorandum, which declares the Administration’s commitment “to securing the borders of the United States”.
According to the 35-page document attached to this article “the Presidential Memorandum highlights the fact that visa overstay rates are unacceptably high for nationals of certain countries and concludes that, “individuals who abuse the visa process and decline to abide by the terms and conditions of their visas, including their visa departure dates, undermine the integrity of our immigration system and harm the national interest.”
Just yesterday outgoing President Donald Trump retweeted a tweet from a Commissioner of US Customs and Border Security Mark Morgan “the new border wall system is unprecedented in its ability to impede, deny, and deter dangerous people and products from entering our country.”
Under President Trump, the US has implemented an aggressive Immigration Policy exemplified by his insistence to build a wall across the southern US border, shared with Mexico.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1331754614333599744