{"id":3733,"date":"2026-01-07T14:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries"},"modified":"2026-01-08T02:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T02:41:18","slug":"washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries","title":{"rendered":"Washington Expands Visa Policy to Include 13 Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ap-summary\" dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<h4>What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n<p>The U.S. State Department has announced an expansion of its visa policy, now requiring applicants from 13 countries, primarily in Africa, to provide a refundable financial guarantee of up to $15,000. This move aims to address issues of overstaying visas, a significant challenge in immigration management.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa. <\/strong> <\/span>The U.S. State Department has announced an expansion of its visa policy, requiring applicants to provide a refundable financial guarantee of up to $15,000 before being allowed entry into the United States. This policy now includes 13 countries, primarily in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. authorities stated that the aim of this measure is to reduce the phenomenon of overstaying legal residency, which is one of the main challenges in immigration. Washington believes that these countries have high rates of violations related to residency after the expiration of visas.<\/p>\n<p>The policy, initially approved by former President Donald Trump last year, originally included six countries before adding seven new ones, bringing the total to 13. The new list includes Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, and Turkmenistan, joining Mauritania, Sa\u0303o Tome\u0301 and Pri\u0301ncipe, Tanzania, Gambia, Malawi, and Zambia. With the exception of Bhutan and Turkmenistan, all targeted countries are in Africa, raising questions about the focus of the decision on the continent. These arrangements took effect on January 1, according to an official notice from the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. State Department confirmed that this policy may continue indefinitely, as authorities monitor compliance rates with visas and the issue of overstaying. This decision is part of a series of measures adopted by the U.S. administration to tighten border and immigration controls, amid ongoing domestic and international discussions about the impact of these policies on U.S.-Africa relations and the image of the United States as a destination for migrants, students, and job seekers.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. visa policy has undergone various changes over the years, often influenced by immigration trends and security concerns. The initial implementation of the financial guarantee policy by former President Donald Trump included six countries, reflecting a growing focus on managing immigration risks from nations with high rates of visa violations. The recent expansion to 13 countries marks a continued effort to tighten immigration controls, particularly from regions perceived as having higher instances of overstays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What You Need to Know The U.S. State Department has announced an expansion of its visa policy, now requiring applicants from 13 countries, primarily in Africa, to provide a refundable financial guarantee of up to $15,000. This move aims to address issues of overstaying visas, a significant challenge in immigration management. Africa. The U.S. State [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120,524,341,991,990],"class_list":{"0":"post-3733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-foreign-relations","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-visa-policy"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Washington Expands Visa Policy to Include 13 Countries - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The U.S. expands its visa policy requiring financial guarantees from applicants from 13 countries, mostly in Africa.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Washington Expands Visa Policy to Include 13 Countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. expands its visa policy requiring financial guarantees from applicants from 13 countries, mostly in Africa.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T14:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-08T02:41:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/01\/sm_1767839767.664714.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1167\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Washington Expands Visa Policy to Include 13 Countries\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T14:01:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-08T02:41:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/01\/sm_1767839767.664714.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"foreign relations\",\"immigration\",\"United States\",\"visa policy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/washington-expands-visa-policy-to-include-13-countries\",\"name\":\"Washington Expands Visa Policy to Include 13 Countries - 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