The United States Mission in Nigeria says Nigeria is not
currently part of the pilot visa bond programme.
The Trump administration had introduced a new temporary
policy issued to discourage nationals of some countries with higher visa
overstay rate.
Under the new policy, visitors to the US from such countries
may have to pay up to $15,000 in bonds.
The visa bond pilot programme is said to target mostly
African countries with high visa overstay — the visitors are believed to have
entered the country legally on student, tourist, work visas and then stay past
their visa expiration date.
According to data from the DHS, almost 30,000 Nigerians
overstayed their B1/B2 visas in 2018, ranking as the 5th country with the most
visa overstays in the US.
This makes Nigeria the African country with the most visa
overstays.
In 2019, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had reported that
Nigeria might be affected by the move of the Trump administration to check the
tide of countries whose immigrants overstay their visas at relatively high
rates.
On Monday, the US government announced that it had
introduced the visa bond pilot programme for B-1 visas (for business
travellers) and B-2 visas (for tourists).
It said the pilot program mewill run for six months.
There have been concerns that Nigeria may be affected by the
policy.
But in a statement on Tuesday, the US mission in Nigeria said the most populous black nation on earth will not be affected by the policy.
“In response to the April 2019 Presidential Memorandum on
Combating High Nonimmigrant Overstay Rates, the Department and our embassies
and consulates overseas conducted an in-depth analysis to identify and address
root causes of overstays,” the statement read.
“Among other efforts to address this challenge, the State
Department is considering additional steps to address overstays, including
piloting a limited visa bonds program to test, in coordination with the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the operational feasibility of posting,
processing, and discharging visa bonds as means to ensure the timely departure
from the United States of certain travelers. Accordingly, the State Department
will begin a limited six-month visa bond pilot program beginning on December
24, 2020.
“We are committed to combating visa overstays and making
sure travelers to the United States respect our laws. The implementation of
this pilot builds on our engagement with foreign governments in recent years and
will ensure continued progress to reduce overstay rates. Nigeria is not
included in this six months pilot program.”
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