A 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 countries that were included in the preliminary programme and could be affected 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