USA freezes visas: see questions and answers The US State Department announced this Friday (31) that it has decided to make permanent a visa bond program that requires citizens from 50 countries, mainly in Africa, to deposit bonds of up to US$20,000 when applying for visas to the USA. According to the statement, publicly released on the department's official website, the pilot project, which was tested for a year, "provided sufficient data to suggest that a visa bond program is an effective tool." The measure affects business and tourism visas - B1 and B2 - and aims to prevent "illegal stay" in the country. “Consular officials may require covered non-immigrant visa applicants to post a security deposit of up to $20,000 as a condition of visa issuance, as determined by consular officials,” it reads. The program comes into effect on August 3rd, the date scheduled for its publication in the Official Gazette of the Union. Brazil is not included in the program. Find out more below: The search for the EB-2 NIW visa in the USA Disclosure Who will be affected Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Bangladesh Benin Botswana Burundi Bhutan Cape Verde Cambodia Ivory Coast Cuba Djibouti Dominica Ethiopia Fiji Gabon Gambia Georgia Grenada Guinea Guinea-Bissau Lesotho Malawi Mauritius Mauritania Mongolia Mozambique Namibia Nepal Nicaragua Nigeria Papua New Guinea Kyrgyzstan Central African Republic São Tomé and Príncipe Seychelles Senegal Tajikistan Tanzania Togo Tonga Tunisia Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Vanuatu Venezuela Zambia Zimbabwe Deposit amount Consular officers may require a financial guarantee of up to US$20,000 per applicant, depending on the individual assessment of the case. Objective The State Department states that federal reports show that thousands of temporary visitors remain in the US beyond the authorized period, which motivated the adoption of the program as an immigration enforcement tool. According to the American government, the deposit serves to ensure that the visitor leaves the United States within the authorized period and the program targets countries with: high rates of irregular stay after visa expiration; deficiencies in information sharing with the US; systems considered insufficient to verify identity and criminal records; flaws in screening processes, document security and citizenship issuance READ ALSO: US visa freeze: older and obese people may be impacted US visa suspension for categories of non-immigrants, such as tourists