Up to $ 15,000: This is the guarantee that foreigners can have to pay for some countries that demand a visa to go to the United States, as part of a pilot project of the State Department made public on Monday, August 4.
The decision, which will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Registry and will enter into force 15 days later, is part of the Trump administration measures to combat illegal immigration.
Its objective is in particular to ensure that visa seekers do not remain in the United States beyond the authorized duration of their stay.
A measure against illegal immigration
The pilot project must last 12 months. According to the State Department notice, these are tourist and commercial trips. This initiative “strengthens the commitment of the Trump administration to enforce the immigration laws of the United States and protect national security,” said a spokesman.
These are “the nationals of the countries identified by the State Department that have high levels of excessive stay” or those whose “control and verification information is considered insufficient”, at the discretion of consular agents.
According to the document, some 500,000 people exceeded the authorized duration of their stay in the United States during fiscal year 2023 (October to October).
Some countries, especially European, exempt
The State Department has not communicated the list of directed countries. But around forty countries, mainly in Europe, participate in a visa exemption program for a limited period of 90 days.
In recent months, the US president has begun to harden the conditions to grant visas for many countries, especially African, in the context of an anti -immigration offensive in Washington.
On Monday, the United States announced to suspend the issuance of visas to Burundi’s nationals, citing “repeated violations” of the nationals of this poor African country.
Since his return to power in January, Donald Trump has made a relentless struggle against illegal immigration as an absolute priority. At the end of July, the NGO Human Rights Watch denounced the “degrading and dehumanizing” conditions in several detention centers for migrants.
Source: BFM TV
