U.S. may require visa applicants to post bond up to $15,000 to enter country | Hacker News Reader

U.S. may require visa applicants to post bond up to $15,000 to enter country

pbs.org

12 pointsnickcotter11 comments

This article seems to be more informative: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/05/which-countries-must-post-bo...

It will apply to applicants from countries with very high overstay rates, as outlined in this report [1]. Some examples of countries with very high overstay rates (rates of people that apply for tourist visas but then never leave): Chad, Haiti, Laos, Sudan.

1: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/24_1011_CBP-...

This story about Trump's new proposed visa rules reads like all of the other new proposals. You can't tell anything and everything is very much in flux.

There's a big fee for a visa, except when there's not... except when there is, except when there's not. The tariffs are announced like this, too. Big tax is coming, except when it's not, but it might be, etc.

There's a pattern here. I would call it, "Say anything." That way, everyone hears what they want. Folks who want to keep out immigrants will hear the fee part, and folks that want their friends to get in will hear the exemptions -- and probably both are true. Or neither is true!

Since we know all politicians and elite people are lying all the time they speak in public, I think the technique they use is more important to recognize than the actual content. People will get upset about whichever side of the visa fee issue that they're on -- and that's what the politicians really want. The visa fee is a non issue, since we know it can come and go on a whim. The real news here is the example of the mind control technique these folks use.

This one has a formal name, the Hegelian Dialectic, a fascinating topic in its own right and something we see all the time but rarely recognize.

The famous “see-what-sticks” school of thought/economy/X/Y/Z

It's not a non issue even if it doesn't end up actually happening: regardless of how or whether it ends up actually being implemented, simply announcing this in itself is going to discourage people in other countries from making plans to visit the US, which may be the desired effect but will also hurt tourism which will likely have a negative effect on the economy.

this is pretty much a blanket ban on 3rd world countries, if it comes into effect

Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore also use bonds for high overstay risk candidates.

And that's who the bond proposal is targeted at. So far, the countries listed (Malawi and Zambia) have 10-15% of all accepted B1/2 holders overstay their visa.

At some point, it is unfair to immigrants who follow the correct path and it's associated hurdles when others use underhanded techniques to immigrate to the US.

And not all "third world countries" have high B1/2 visa overstay risks. For example it's only 1.3% for India, 3.67% for China, 1.97% for Peru, 5% for Pakistan, 2.6% for Cambodia, 4.1% for Nepal, 3.56% for Madagascar, etc. [0]

If countries with similar developmental and economic indicators to Pakistan like Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Malawi have a 2-3x higher visa overstay rates, then there are issues with enforcement and vetting of B1/2 visa applicants from those countries.

[0] - https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-countries-highest-us-visa...

There goes cheap and pain-free visas. Foreign countries will reciprocate.

Yup, there is still some tourism remaining to kill, so why not

I doubt there's much tourism to the US from countries with high overstay rates.

why?

The majority of all tourists (B1/2) in the US come from countries with either visa-free access or sub 5% visa overstay rates [0]

And plenty of poor countries with Sub-Saharan developmental indicators like Pakistan, Cambodia, and Nepal don't have elevated B1/2 visa overstay rates compared to other countries, so if some countries with similar developmental indicators are seeing elevated abuse of the B1/2 program, then it should be cracked down on.

[0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_the_United_States

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