Citizens of 15 African countries will have to post bonds of up to $15,000 (£11,000) to visit the US, according to a new temporary travel rule which comes into effect on 24 December.
The six-month pilot programme – which targets those on both visitor and business visas – will act as a deterrent to those who overstay their visas, the US state department said.
Outgoing President Donald Trump, who lost a re-election bid earlier this month, made restricting immigration a central part of his four-year term in office.
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, has pledged to reverse many of the Republican president’s immigration policies, but untangling hundreds of changes could take months or years.
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The visa bond rule targets countries whose nationals had an “overstay rate” of 10% or higher in 2019 and will now be required to pay a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000.
While those nations had higher rates of overstays, they sent relatively few travellers to the US, Reuters news agency reports.
The African countries affected are; Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, Cape Verde, Burundi.
Source: BBC