The US wants to ask up to $ 15,000 guarantee for entering the country. Whom the measure announced by the Trump Administration concerns

The United States is considering requesting guarantees of up to $ 15,000 for some tourist and business visas in a pilot program that will be launched over two weeks, a government announcement published on Monday, an effort meant to combat visitors that exceed their term of residence, reports AFP and Reuters.

The decision, to be published on Tuesday in the federal register and enter into force 15 days later, is part of the measures of the Trump administration to combat illegal immigration, notes News.ro. It is particularly aimed at ensuring that visa applicants do not remain in the United States after their stay expires.

The pilot project will take 12 months and will include both business and tourism visas, according to the State Department statement.

It concerns “the citizens of the countries identified by the State Department as having high rates of exceeding the authorized residence” or those whose “control and verification information is considered insufficient” by the consular agents.

According to the document, about 500,000 people have exceeded the authorized duration of stay in the United States during fiscal year 2023.

The list of countries was not made public

The list of targeted countries has not yet been provided. In recent months, US President Donald Trump has initiated a visa's tightening conditions for many African countries, against the background of the Washington's anti-immigration offensive.

Since returning to power in January, the White House leader has made an absolute priority from the Clandestine immigration.

The United States, under the Trump administration, announced in May the exclusion of Romania from the Visa Waiver program, which assumed that Romanians can travel without visas for tourist or business purposes.

Donald Trump issued in June a travel prohibition that completely or partially blocks the entry of citizens from 19 countries, invoking reasons for national security.

Trump's immigration policies have caused some visitors to give up travel to the United States. In May, transatlantic tickets had prices that have not been seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, and travel from Canada and Mexico to the USA decreased by 20% from year to year.

Starting August 20, the new visa program will take one year, the Government's announcement shows. Consular officers will have three options for visa applicants: $ 5,000, $ 10,000 or $ 15,000, but in general, expectations are to request at least $ 10,000, the statement said.

The money will be returned to the travelers if they leave in accordance with the term of their visas, the notification states.

A similar pilot program was launched in November 2020, during the last months of Trump's first term, but was not fully implemented due to the decrease of global trips associated with pandemic.

What the criteria want

A spokesman for the State Department has listed the criteria that will be used to identify the countries that will be affected, adding that the list of states can be updated.

“The countries will be identified on the basis of the high rates of exceeding the term of residence, of the deficiencies in terms of control and verification, of the concerns regarding the acquisition of citizenship through investments without a residence requirement and of the foreign policy considerations,” said the spokesman.

The State Department was not able to estimate the number of visa applicants who could be affected by this change.

Many of the countries targeted by Trump's travel prohibition have high visas overdue, including Ciad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen.

Another $ 250 fee from October 1

The US Travel Association, which represents the main tourism companies, has estimated that “the area of application of the visa pilot program seems to be limited, with an estimated number of 2,000 affected applicants, most likely only from a few relatively low volume of travel to the United States.”

Numerous countries in Africa, including Burundi, Djibouti and Togo, have also had high rates to overcome the deadline, according to the customs office and US border protection from fiscal year 2023.

A provision of the expense package adopted in July by the US Congress, controlled by Republicans, also created a “visa integrity fee” of $ 250 for any person who is approved a non -unimaginable visa, money that will be reimbursed to those who comply with visas.

The $ 250 fee will enter into force on October 1.

US TRAVEL said that this tax could prevent travel and said: “If it is implemented, the US will have one of the largest, if not the highest, taxes for the visa in the world.”

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