People hoping to immigrate to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic will now have to pay hefty bonds to qualify for visas, the State Department announced this week.
“Those who seek to obtain that privilege must be capable of demonstrating that they will be a benefit — rather than a burden — to our nation,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott wrote in a statement.
The high bond fee — which could run up to $250,000, the Free Beacon reported — is the White House’s latest effort to overhaul immigration enforcement efforts through visa policy changes.
The State Department announced last August that visa bonds valued between $5,000 and $15,000 would apply to a select list of countries that had “high visa overstay rates.” Over the last year, the agency expanded the list to include 50 nations — concentrated primarily in Africa, as well as Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and South America. Earlier this week, the State Department increased the visa bond payment minimum to $10,000 and maximum to $20,000 when the program became a permanent rule.
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The new pilot program is a separate initiative that allows prospective immigrants who were initially denied visas on “public charge grounds” to pay higher bonds “as a way to tangibly demonstrate they have access to the funds needed to support themselves,” Pigott said.
Officials can deny an applicant’s visa if they are deemed likely to become a “public charge,” meaning they are likely to become primarily dependent on the government, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The State Department, in conjunction with Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will begin with applicants from the Dominican Republic because of the “scope and scale” of immigrant visa operations at the capital’s U.S. embassy, according to a department spokesperson.
The new fees for immigrants trying to overcome USCIS visa denials could expand to the other 49 countries subject to the newly permanent bonds.
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