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Immigration Law

Countries Subject to Visa Bonds

As part of a new Trump administration policy, citizens of several dozen countries have or will have to post bonds as a condition to securing B visas for admission into the US. The bonds are refundable upon departure from the US. The imposition of a bond requirement is specifically authorized by section 214 of the statute, which provides that:

The admission to the United States of any alien as a nonimmigrant shall be for such time and under such conditions as the Attorney General may by regulations prescribe, including when he deems necessary the giving of a bond with sufficient surety in such sum and containing such conditions as the Attorney General shall prescribe, to insure that at the expiration of such time ... such alien will depart from the United States. 

In the past, such bonds have sometimes been imposed on an individual-specific basis, but this is easily the broadest use of the authority in recent history. Review the list of countries whose citizens are affected by the requirement.