NewzA Visa Bond Programme requiring nationals from specific countries to pay up to US$20,000 before being granted a United States (US) Visa will become permanent on August 3 after what the US government says is a successful pilot. Four Caribbean countries - Cuba, Dominica, Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda - are included in the list of 50 countries. The Antigua and Barbuda Government has already announced it is lobbying heavily for a rollback of the requirements for its citizens.
The programme was initially launched in 2025 in an effort to prevent overstaying. The US State Department in a draft notice on Friday, revealed that the decision to make the rule permanent was taken after the programme “provided sufficient data to suggest that a visa bond program is an effective tool for enforcing compliance among bonded visa holders,” US media has reported. The bond, which is returned to travellers once they exit the country on time, can be between US$10,000 to US$20,000 at the discretion of consular officers.
The full list of affected countries is as follows: Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Bangladesh Benin Bhutan Botswana Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Central African Republic Côte d’Ivoire Cuba Djibouti Dominica Ethiopia Fiji Gabon The Gambia Georgia Grenada Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kyrgyz Republic Lesotho Malawi Mauritania Mauritius Mongolia Mozambique Namibia Nepal Nicaragua Nigeria Papua New Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Tajikistan Tanzania Togo Tonga Tunisia Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Vanuatu Venezuela Zambia Zimbabwe ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) – The Antigua and Barbuda government has launched a fresh diplomatic effort to persuade the United States (US) to remove the twin-island nation from recently imposed visa restrictions and the newly established US Visa Bond Programme. Prime Minister Gaston Browne has written to US President Donald Trump requesting a review of the measures affecting Antiguan and Barbudan nationals under Presidential Proclamation 10998, related visa restrictions and the permanent Visa Bond Programme.
At the same time, Antigua and Barbuda’s embassy in Washington has submitted a diplomatic note to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an early review of the country’s continued inclusion in the measures. According to the government, its appeal is based on the US State Department’s own explanation that the Visa Bond Programme is intended to encourage countries to strengthen information sharing, identity verification, document security, immigration compliance and other security measures. The government said Antigua and Barbuda has already implemented significant reforms that address those objectives.
Among the measures highlighted are tougher residency requirements under the Citizenship by Investment Programme, biometric cooperation with the US Department of Homeland Security to improve identity verification and screening, continued cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in accepting nationals removed from the United States, and a willingness to assist with third-country nationals within the country’s capacity. The government also pointed to Antigua and Barbuda’s low visa overstay rate of just over one per cent, noting that no citizen has sought refugee status in the United States. It also highlighted the country’s status as a stable parliamentary democracy and an upper-middle-income economy recognised by the World Bank.
In his letter, Browne also emphasised Antigua and Barbuda’s long-standing partnership with the United States, citing cooperation in regional security, intelligence sharing, immigration enforcement, and efforts to combat narcotics trafficking and transnational organised crime. The prime minister said Antigua and Barbuda has consistently responded to concerns raised by successive US administrations and believes the objectives outlined by the State Department have now been substantially met.
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