The US visa that now costs $15,000 up front

The US visa that now costs $15,000 up front

In the trial's first 10 months, business and tourist visa issuance across the 50 countries covered by America's now-permanent visa bond program fell 83 percent year on year.

Kanya Sirikul

A row of empty blue plastic chairs against a bare wall in a waiting room, no people, no signage, no documents and no official insignia in frame, for the piece on the US visa bond program

Photo Hongjin Wang / Unsplash

In the trial's first 10 months, business and tourist visa issuance across the 50 countries covered by America's now-permanent visa bond program fell 83 percent year on year.

Approved applicants must post a bond of $10,000 to $20,000 before the visa is issued. The expected amount rose from $10,000 under the trial to $15,000.
On World Bank figures, that $15,000 is 25 years of gross national income per person in Malawi, about 15 months in Grenada.
The rule lists an asylum filing among the actions that violate the bond, and a violation Homeland Security finds substantial can cost the whole deposit.
There is no way to apply for a waiver, and the money earns no interest.

About $115 million was posted during the trial. Searching on August 20, I could find no published figure for how much of it has been given back.