African tourists to start paying a bond of N5.7m before being granted U.S visa

The outgoing administration of US President, Donald Trump, has issued a new temporary rule for African tourists.

According to Reuters, the new rule could require tourist and business travelers from two dozen countries, most in Africa, to pay a bond of as much as $15,000 (N5.7m) to visit the United States.

The U.S. State Department said the temporary final rule, which takes effect December 24 and runs through June 24, targets countries whose nationals have higher rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and B-1 visas for business travelers.

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The Trump administration said the six-month pilot program aims to test the feasibility of collecting such bonds and will serve as a diplomatic deterrence to overstaying the visas.