If you need to visit the US, you would possibly soon must pack greater than a suitcase – try a $15,000 (£11,286) security deposit.
That’s the logic behind a revived Trump-era scheme quietly being piloted by the US State Department.
Residents from Malawi and Zambia shall be forced to fork out the hefty deposit for a tourist or business visa, aiming to curb visa overstayers or ‘where screening and vetting information is taken into account deficient’, in keeping with a US government notice.
To further complicate things, they have to arrive and depart via only three airports, or risk being denied entry. Sure, they get the deposit back in the event that they comply with all of the terms, however it sets a dangerous precedent.
In practice, it’s little greater than legalised discrimination – a blunt, bureaucratic penalty for the crime of coming from a ‘poor’ country.
The US calls it a ‘bond’, but a ‘bank border’ is perhaps a more accurate description.
For a rustic that sells itself because the land of the free, America has turn into increasingly obsessive about fees. Visa applicants already pay a whole lot in processing costs, wait as much as 35 months for processing, and must declare every detail of their lives – including handing over the keys to all their social media accounts.
Now, even that’s not enough. They’ll must offer 1000’s of dollars simply to prove they’ll go home again.
And that’s not all. Once they get to the border? They’re still not guaranteed entry.
This isn’t policy – it’s paranoia, priced up. So far as I can see, there’s no evidence that schemes like this reduce overstays.
The bond pilot is proscribed in scope and designed to be temporary – which is the diplomatic equivalent of a shrug.
The kicker? The Trump Administration has been using ‘a flawed Department of Homeland Security overstay report back to bar people from immigrating or gaining temporary visas’, in keeping with a National Foundation for American Policy evaluation.
So, what’s the true reason for the targeted list? It’s not hard to guess. It’s a tale as old as time for Trump.
The countries affected form a fastidiously curated list which might be economically disadvantaged, majority non-white, or politically expendable. The racial and sophistication dynamics here aren’t a side effect – they’re the entire point.
Even setting that aside, it’s so staggeringly short-sighted it makes literally no sense.
As the UK knows greater than most, soft power matters on the world stage. And as places like London and Latest York also know, tourism and cultural exchange really matter.
While you tell the world – as this policy does – that only wealthy individuals with certain-coloured passports are welcome, you don’t just block families and friends. You block futures – your individual, that’s.
The American Dream was at all times overstated, but this turns it right into a work of pure Hollywood fiction.
And for what, exactly? So Trump can show he’s tough on immigration? To impress a Fox News audience already convinced that anyone with a foreign name is secretly planning to remain ceaselessly?
But what’s the point, really? The overwhelming majority of individuals do go home. In reality, lower than 2% of holiday makers overstay their visa. That’s in keeping with the US government’s own figures.
And of that tiny percentage, many are unintentional – a missed deadline, a cancelled flight, or bureaucratic confusion.
Or, like Thomas – a 35-year-old tech employee from Ireland, who was visiting his girlfriend within the US when he said he suffered a sudden health issue that prevented him from flying. His overstay of just three days landed him in ICE custody, where he spent 100 days in detention and federal facilities, claiming he endured overcrowded conditions and limited medical care.
He was deported and slapped with a 10-year re-entry ban.
If the priority is genuinely about overstayers, why not spend money on streamlining the prevailing system – relatively than sticking a price tag on it?
This isn’t just silly, pointless, and unfair. It’s costly.
The US economy relies heavily on tourism from the very countries it’s now alienating. In 2024, travellers to the US directly contributed $1.3 trillion (£977 billion) and generated an economic output of $2.9 trillion (£2.1 trillion), supporting over 15 million jobs.
America’s global repute – now truly reeling from Trump 2.0 chaos – has already caused a tourism black hole. By March 2025, just weeks after Trump moved back into the White House, visits from the UK to the US collapsed by over 14%.
On the continent, the figures were even worse. Nearly 30% fewer Germans visited the US, while that figure was 25% in Spain – for western Europeans, there have been 17% fewer visits.
Industry insiders and analysts blamed political backlash for the sharp decline in visits from countries where Trump’s personal popularity is thru the ground.
The irony? Trump is eager to win hearts and minds globally. To present himself because the world’s biggest leader – strong, popular, attractive.
He desires to compete with China’s infrastructure, Russia’s disinformation machine, and Europe’s unity.
And yet, in the identical breath, he treats visitors with increasing contempt. For odd people – students, partners, tourists, relations – who now face a good steeper climb to get a foot within the door, it’d simply not be price it anymore.
The land of the free? Perhaps once. Right away, it’s just the land of the fee.
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