'Not everyone who goes to the US wants to overstay'

Maziko Matemba, a community healthcare activist from Malawi's Blantyre, has visited the US seven times over the past decade.

Each of these visits has been for professional reasons. Not once has he overstayed his visa.

Under new US immigration rules, supposedly meant to clamp down on visa breaches by visitors from specific countries, Matemba's next journey could cost him an extra US $15,000 before he even boards the plane.

That's higher than the multi-year incomes of many citizens in this East African nation with a population of over 21 million.

Outside Malawi's immigration headquarters in Blantyre, many passport applicants planning to travel to the US have been dealt a rude shock by what is being seen as weaponising visa bonds to make an already expensive proposition costlier still.  

Unfair profiling

The US State Department has notified that the new rule, which kicks in on August 20, applies to citizens travelling on passports issued by Malawi or Zambia. The order states that whoever "is found otherwise eligible for a B1/B2 visa must post a bond in amounts of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, determined at the time of visa interview".

Frequent international travellers from Malawi and Zambia – and not just to the US – are aghast at the American authorities making a sweeping assumption about each visitor from their countries being a potential visa violator.

They feel it is condescending to be even unaware, much less acknowledge, that not every Malawian or Zambian visiting the US for work, holiday or to see family and friends intends to overstay.

Matemba points out that “$15,000 is a considerable amount even for the government to spend on someone visiting the US as the country's representative.” There are so many official visits requiring Malawian government representation, including the UN General Assembly.

The policy transforms what was once a $185 visa fee into an almost insurmountable financial barrier.

Economy return tickets from Blantyre's Chileka International Airport to New York's JFK Airport cost around $2,000 as of now, with similar prices from Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia.

Ban subterfuge

Analysts say that the policy amounts to a veritable visa ban disguised as a security measure.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced the new measure as discriminatory, describing it as a form of exploitation and a "legalised shakedown".

"This is not about national security," says Robert McCaw, CAIR's government affairs director. "It's about weaponising immigration policy to extort vulnerable visitors, punish disfavoured countries, and turn America's welcome mat into a paywall."

The measure revives an initiative first introduced in November 2020, near the end of President Donald Trump's first term, but never implemented.

According to the US State Department notice, the country's consular officers worldwide have the discretion to determine bond amounts for travellers from countries with allegedly high rates of visa overstays.