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3-MO 3.82% -1bp 6-MO 3.98% +1bp 1-YR 4.04% unch 2-YR 4.23% +1bp 3-YR 4.30% +1bp 5-YR 4.38% +1bp 7-YR 4.52% +1bp 10-YR 4.68% +1bp 20-YR 5.22% +1bp 30-YR 5.21% +1bp 3-MO 3.82% -1bp 6-MO 3.98% +1bp 1-YR 4.04% unch 2-YR 4.23% +1bp 3-YR 4.30% +1bp 5-YR 4.38% +1bp 7-YR 4.52% +1bp 10-YR 4.68% +1bp 20-YR 5.22% +1bp 30-YR 5.21% +1bp 3-MO 3.82% -1bp 6-MO 3.98% +1bp 1-YR 4.04% unch 2-YR 4.23% +1bp 3-YR 4.30% +1bp 5-YR 4.38% +1bp 7-YR 4.52% +1bp 10-YR 4.68% +1bp 20-YR 5.22% +1bp 30-YR 5.21% +1bp 3-MO 3.82% -1bp 6-MO 3.98% +1bp 1-YR 4.04% unch 2-YR 4.23% +1bp 3-YR 4.30% +1bp 5-YR 4.38% +1bp 7-YR 4.52% +1bp 10-YR 4.68% +1bp 20-YR 5.22% +1bp 30-YR 5.21% +1bp 3-MO 3.82% -1bp 6-MO 3.98% +1bp 1-YR 4.04% unch 2-YR 4.23% +1bp 3-YR 4.30% +1bp 5-YR 4.38% +1bp 7-YR 4.52% +1bp 10-YR 4.68% +1bp 20-YR 5.22% +1bp 30-YR 5.21% +1bp 3-MO 3.82% -1bp 6-MO 3.98% +1bp 1-YR 4.04% unch 2-YR 4.23% +1bp 3-YR 4.30% +1bp 5-YR 4.38% +1bp 7-YR 4.52% +1bp 10-YR 4.68% +1bp 20-YR 5.22% +1bp 30-YR 5.21% +1bp
US Treasury par yield curve · Jul 30 · Source: U.S. Treasury
Friday, July 31, 2026
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Visa bonds

The visa bond is now permanent at $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000, and the rule reports that issuance from the covered countries fell 83 percent

Money & World
The Editorial Team ·
A single United States one hundred dollar note of the older design lying face up but inverted on a plain white surface, the portrait of Benjamin Franklin at the top of the frame and the green Treasury seal and serial number across the middle.
Photo: Engin Akyurt / Pexels

Section III of the final rule carries the pilot's own scorecard, and it is the most quotable part of the document.

The State Department filed a final rule on Friday morning making its visa bond programme permanent. Applicants for business and tourist visas who are nationals of covered countries must post a bond of $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 as a condition of the visa being issued. The amount is the consular officer's call. The Department writes that officers are expected to set $15,000 as the default, drop to $10,000 where the applicant could not pay that and still fund the trip, and go to $20,000 where the circumstances suggest $15,000 would not be enough to secure a timely departure.

The rule takes effect on publication. Nationals of the 50 countries already covered by the pilot stay covered from that day.

The numbers the Department published about its own pilot

The pilot ran from 20 August 2025 and was meant to be a 12-month test. The Department writes that it initially anticipated about 2,000 applicants would be required to post a bond over the year. Roughly 20,000 applications ended up carrying one.

Close to half of those were never paid. The Department puts the total temporary monetary cost to the public of the bonds that were paid at about $115 million, and it states plainly that the pilot has led to reduced demand: visa issuance for pilot countries fell 83 percent in the first 10 months against the same period a year earlier, and it expects the final rule to contribute to a continued reduction.

Against that, the compliance figures. There were 45,488 overstays from those same 50 countries in fiscal 2024. In the first 10 months of the pilot, the Department writes, the number of overstays was fewer than 50.

What the amounts are anchored to

The three levels are not arbitrary and the rule says where they came from. The Department set them after consulting Treasury and Homeland Security, and it took account of what Homeland Security calls the Immigration Enforcement Lifecycle cost, the fully burdened cost of finding and removing one person who has overstayed, which DHS computed at approximately $18,042 for fiscal 2024. A $20,000 bond covers it. A $10,000 bond does not.

The maximum is indexed. From 1 October 2027, and every seven years after that, the $20,000 ceiling adjusts for the cumulative change in the unadjusted consumer price index for all urban consumers, rounded up to the nearest $1,000.

Bonds are posted electronically in US dollars through a Treasury payment platform and held at a financial institution acting as a government agent. The applicant carries the exchange rate, the bank fees and, where a card is used, the card acquiring fee. A bond that is breached is generally forfeited.

The document: Department of State, Visas: Visa Bond Program, final rule, 22 CFR Part 41, Public Notice 13089, RIN 1400-AG33, FR document 2026-15726, filed for public inspection on 31 July 2026 at 8:45 a.m. Eastern. The complete public inspection text was downloaded and read here; no fetch-tool summary was relied on, and every figure and characterisation below was matched against the document. The rule states that it finalises the temporary final rule effective 20 August 2025 which launched a 12-month Visa Bond Pilot Program, published at 90 FR 37378 on 5 August 2025, and that the final rule is effective on the date of publication in the Federal Register. It states the authority is section 221(g)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1201(g)(3), and that the programme responds to Executive Order 14159, published at 90 FR 8443 on 29 January 2025. On amounts, the rule states that covered applicants must post a bond of up to $20,000, that the exact amount is $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 as determined by the consular officer, that officers are expected to set $15,000 unless the officer has reason to believe the applicant cannot pay that amount while remaining able to fund the trip, in which case $10,000, or unless the applicant's circumstances suggest $15,000 would be insufficient, in which case $20,000, and that beginning 1 October 2027 and every seven years thereafter the maximum adjusts for inflation on the cumulative change in the unadjusted CPI-U for the US City Average, rounded up to the nearest $1,000. It states the amounts were set following consultation with Treasury and DHS and took account of the Immigration Enforcement Lifecycle cost computed by DHS at approximately $18,042 per alien for fiscal 2024. On coverage, the rule states the programme is limited to B-1/B-2 applicants who are nationals of countries that are not Visa Waiver Program members and that are identified on criteria including overstay rates, information sharing, identity and criminal records, and screening and vetting, that covered countries are announced via travel.state.gov no fewer than 15 days before the programme takes effect, that additions carry 15 days from announcement to enactment while removals take effect immediately, and that nationals of countries subject to the pilot remain subject on the effective date. On the pilot's results, the rule states that 50 countries were added over the initial 10 months, that FY 2024 saw 45,488 overstays from those 50 countries, that the number of overstays in the first 10 months of the pilot was fewer than 50, and that visa issuance rates for pilot countries declined by 83 percent as of July 2026 compared with the same 10-month period the preceding year. On volumes and cost, the rule states the Department initially anticipated approximately 2,000 applicants would be required to pay a bond during the one-year pilot, that approximately 20,000 visa applications were ultimately determined to require a bond payment, that close to half of those applications have resulted in a bond payment for a total temporary monetary cost to the public of about $115 million, and that nearly half of the 20,000 applicants chose not to pay. On overstay context, the rule cites DHS reporting of a 0.44 percent total overstay rate for Visa Waiver Program nationals in fiscal 2019 against 2.06 percent for non-VWP travellers. It states that bonds are posted electronically in US dollars through a Treasury payment platform, held by a financial agent, that payers bear exchange and card acquiring fees, and that a breached bond is generally forfeited..

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