Just ten days after making its visa bond program permanent for certain visitor visas, could the United States already be considering expanding it to more countries?
In an interview with Reuters, Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, the leading organization representing the US travel industry, said he had heard indications that the Visa Bond Program could be expanded.
“There are already rumblings of expanding this program to additional countries where visas are required, perhaps all countries where visas are required,” he told the British news agency.
Freeman said such an expansion could have significant consequences for the US economy and travel industry.
However, no official announcement has confirmed that an expansion has been decided or is currently being prepared. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The visa bond currently applies to 50 countries
Since August 3, 2026, the US visa bond system has no longer been a pilot program.
As VisasNews recently reported, the State Department has made permanent a mechanism that allows consular officers to require a bond before issuing certain B-1, B-2 or combined B-1/B-2 visas for business or tourism.
The final rule published in the Federal Register now sets three possible bond amounts: $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000.
The amount is determined by the consular officer based on the applicant’s individual circumstances. Authorities say the bond should generally be set at $15,000, with the option to lower it to $10,000 or raise it to $20,000 depending on the case.
Nationals of 50 countries are currently subject to the program. The State Department’s list includes Algeria, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, Nepal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Venezuela, among others.
A list that can be expanded with just 15 days’ notice
The possibility raised by the U.S. Travel Association is particularly significant because the regulations themselves allow the list of affected countries to evolve.
The State Department states in the Federal Register that the list may be updated on an ongoing basis.
When a new country is added to the program, the change must be announced at least 15 days before the visa bond requirement takes effect for its nationals. By contrast, a country can be removed from the list immediately.
The regulatory framework therefore already allows the program to be expanded relatively quickly to additional nationalities.
The final rule also sets out the criteria that may be considered when selecting countries.
The State Department may look at factors including visa overstay rates, information-sharing practices, identity and background screening capabilities, vetting procedures, and the security of travel and civil-status documents.
Meeting one or more of these criteria does not automatically result in a country being added to the program. US authorities retain discretion over which nationalities are ultimately included.
Countries eligible for ESTA are not affected
The regulations also contain an important limitation.
The permanent program applies to nationals of countries that do not participate in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows travelers from France and many other European countries to make certain trips to the United States without a visa, provided they obtain an ESTA authorization.
The State Department explicitly states that participation in the Visa Waiver Program currently prevents a country from being included in the visa bond program.
So even if the possibility cited by Geoff Freeman of extending the program to “all countries where visas are required” were eventually to materialize, it would not mean that visa bonds would apply to all foreign travelers.
French, Belgian, Swiss and other nationals of VWP countries would therefore not be affected by such an expansion as long as their countries remain part of the US Visa Waiver Program.
Visa bonds led to an 83% drop in visa issuances
In making the program permanent, the State Department has pointed to the results of the pilot launched in August 2025.
According to data included in the final rule, 45,488 overstays were recorded in fiscal year 2024 among nationals of the 50 countries that were gradually brought into the program.
During the first ten months of the pilot, the number of overstays among travelers subject to the bond reportedly fell to fewer than 50, according to the State Department.
At the same time, however, the program led to a sharp decline in visa issuances.
US authorities had initially estimated that around 2,000 applicants would be subject to a bond during the one-year pilot. In practice, nearly 20,000 visa applications ultimately required a bond.
Nearly half of those applications resulted in a payment, temporarily tying up about $115 million in applicants’ funds.
Conversely, nearly half of the applicants who were required to post a bond ultimately chose not to do so.
The State Department therefore recorded an 83% decline in B-1/B-2 visa issuances in the affected countries during the first ten months of the program compared with the same period a year earlier.
After the World Cup, U.S. Travel fears a move in the opposite direction
The U.S. Travel Association’s concerns come just weeks after the 2026 FIFA World Cup, held from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
During the tournament, US authorities had instead temporarily eased the visa bond requirement to make it easier for certain international fans and participants to travel to the country.
In May, Washington announced that it would waive visa bonds for certain World Cup fans.
The exemption notably applied to certain nationals of participating countries who had purchased their tickets before April 15, 2026 and registered through the FIFA PASS program, provided they otherwise met all requirements for a US visa.
Athletes, coaches, essential team personnel and certain family members were also eligible for the temporary suspension of the bond requirement. The U.S. Travel Association welcomed the move at the time.
In a May 13, 2026 statement, Freeman described the decision as a “smart, targeted move,” saying it would allow more international fans to attend World Cup matches in the United States.
Three months later, the organization is now warning about the possibility of movement in the opposite direction: expanding visa bonds to a much larger number of visa-required travelers.
Freeman told Reuters that the 50 countries currently covered by the program account for less than 2% of international visitors to the United States. Expanding the requirement to much larger visa-required markets would therefore dramatically increase the program’s reach.
More broadly, the organization argues that lessons from the World Cup should encourage authorities to make international travel easier rather than add measures that could discourage visitors, particularly as the United States prepares to host the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
VisasNews Take
At this stage, no expansion of the US visa bond program beyond the 50 countries currently covered has been announced. The possibility raised by the U.S. Travel Association should therefore be distinguished from an official government decision. However, the final rule that took effect on August 3, 2026 explicitly allows the list to change and requires any newly added country to be announced at least 15 days before the bond requirement takes effect. Countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program, including UK, France, Belgium and other European countries, remain excluded from the program under its current rules.
