The United States has finalized a rule requiring Nigerian and other African visa applicants to deposit up to 20,000 dollars as a guarantee they will leave the country at the end of their authorized stay, citing high visa overstay rates and inadequate information sharing by several countries.

The rule, taking effect August 3, 2026, establishes a permanent Visa Bond Program following a pilot phase launched in 2025 covering 50 countries. The State Department said the pilot proved effective, with overstays from affected countries dropping to fewer than 50 in its first ten months compared to more than 45,000 recorded across those same countries in all of 2024, though the bond requirement also caused visa issuance for pilot countries to fall by 83 percent, with nearly half of applicants declining to pay the bond. Total bond payments during the pilot period reached about 115 million dollars.

The department said the policy targets countries with high overstay rates and insufficient identity verification, describing it as a diplomatic tool intended to encourage governments to improve document security and compliance with US immigration law rather than a punitive measure. Consular officers will determine bond amounts of 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000 dollars for individual applicants based on their circumstances.

Separately, the US Mission in Nigeria warned passport and visa applicants against using artificial intelligence or digitally edited photographs, saying such images will not be accepted and that photos must be recent, unfiltered and accurately reflect the applicant’s current appearance, warning that submitting an enhanced image would significantly delay processing.