The US has launched new journey restrictions that will require Nigerians making use of for B1/B2 (enterprise and tourism) visas to put up a visa bond of $15,000, additional tightening entry circumstances for Nigerian travellers.
That is based on data revealed on the US Division of State’s web site, Journey.State.Gov, which notes that cost of a bond doesn’t assure visa issuance and that any price paid with out the categorical course of a consular officer is not going to be refunded.
The coverage kinds a part of a broader visa risk-management framework focusing on nations assessed as high-risk.
The brand new requirement is scheduled to take impact for Nigeria on January 21, 2026, coming barely weeks after the US imposed partial journey restrictions on Nigerian visa candidates.
Below the directive, Nigeria is amongst 38 nations whose nationals will be required to put up visa bonds when making use of for B1/B2 visas, with African nations accounting for twenty-four of these listed.
The US Division of State defined that nationals from the affected nations who’re in any other case eligible for a B1/B2 visa will be required to put up a bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, with the precise quantity decided throughout the visa interview.
In keeping with the directive:
“Any citizen or nationwide travelling on a passport issued by one in every of these nations, who’s in any other case discovered eligible for a B1/B2 visa, should put up a bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000.”
The bond will solely be refunded if one of many following circumstances is met:
Failure to fulfill these circumstances might end in forfeiture of the bond.
Nigeria joins a number of different African and non-African nations on the record, together with Algeria, Angola, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Nepal, Venezuela, and others, with implementation dates various between August 2025 and January 2026.
The introduction of the visa bond requirement follows the partial US journey restrictions imposed on Nigeria on December 16, when the nation was listed amongst 15 largely African nations going through tighter visa controls.