‘A more direct solution’: State Department rolls out key strategy to prevent foreigners from overstaying their welcome

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”

In addition to directing all executive departments and agencies to “employ all lawful means to ensure the faithful execution of the immigration laws of the United States against all inadmissible and removable aliens,” the president tasked the secretaries of treasury, state, and homeland security to establish a visa bond program.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified State Department employees of the program in a cable on Monday.

A State Department spokesperson told Blaze News, “The pilot reinforces the Trump administration’s commitment to enforcing U.S. immigration laws and safeguarding U.S. national security.

Under the program, consular officers can require aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure to post bonds of up to $15,000 if they hail from countries identified by the State Department as having high visa overstay rates, substandard screening and vetting information, or offering citizenship by investment.

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By overstaying a visa, an alien could forfeit the bond as well as risk the usual consequences: a three-year, a 10-year, or an indefinite ban from the country, depending on the duration of unlawful presence.

The pilot program — established under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorizes consular officers to require aliens to post a bond for a B-1/B-2 visitor/tourist visa — is effective from Aug. 20, 2025, until Aug. 5, 2026.

‘With their own money on the line, more temporary visa holders will comply with their required departure date.’

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Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Blaze News, “Large numbers of visa-overstayers have been a problem in our country for decades. The U.S. government should use various tools to end this abuse of our legal visa system.”

“President Trump has issued visa restrictions for a few countries with high overstay rates. Applying visa sanctions is another tool that the State Department can use against countries with high overstay rates,” continued Ries. “Requiring travelers to post a bond is a more direct solution tied to the individual rather than a country, since it is the individual deciding to ignore our law to depart the U.S. on time. With their own money on the line, more temporary visa holders will comply with their required departure date, so it would be an effective tool in that regard.”

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“Consular officers should refuse any applicant who does not qualify for a visa,” continued Hankinson. “In most cases, that means they fail to convince the officer that they have a home outside the U.S. that they intend to return to and that they will do what they say in the U.S. and nothing more.”

While the State Department would not immediately disclose which countries may be affected, past visa overstay data indicates which countries would be prime candidates.

According to a 2024 U.S. Customs and Border Protection “Entry/Exit Overstay Report,” there were over 314,000 overstays by business or pleasure visitors from non-Visa Waiver Program countries in fiscal year 2023, not including the 79,443 overstays by nonimmigrant visitors from Canada and Mexico.

There were an additional 99,460 overstays by business or pleasure visitors from VWP countries.

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When asked which countries should be at the top of the list, Hankinson said that countries with high rates of fraud in applications or of overstay/abuse rates might be a place to start but that he saw “no reason the bonds could not eventually cover every country, for at least high-risk visa categories.”

‘The left, libertarians, and anyone with a business interest in open borders want no limits.’

“The bond should be much higher than the typical price for that category and country for an alien smuggler to bring someone in illegally, or else it won’t work as a deterrent,” added Hankinson.

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“The result will be a decimated tourist industry. Tourists spend over $200 billion annually in the U.S., spending that counts as exports,” continued Nowrasteh. “The administration’s proposal will not only undermine much of the tourist industry, but it will counteract the administration’s goals to reduce the trade deficit.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Travel Association similarly whined about the program, noting, “If this is implemented, the U.S. will have one of, if not the highest, visitor visa fees in the world.”

Neither Hankinson nor Ries is buying the line sold by such critics.

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Ries suggested that “instead of just complaining about the government trying to end a long and serious violation of our law, cities and companies that rely on tourism should encourage visitors to comply with our laws and depart when required.”

“That simple addition would help to end the visa overstay issue,” added Ries.