The US Department of State announced on August 5, 2026 a pilot program under which consular officers can require certain immigrant visa applicants to post a financial bond before receiving their visa. The bond is designed as a way to overcome a refusal on public-charge grounds, the finding that an applicant is likely to depend on US government support after immigrating. Officers decide who must post a bond and how much it will be, based on what the department describes as the totality of the circumstances of each case; the notice itself publishes no standard amounts. Bloomberg Law, quoting State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott, reports that the pilot initially covers immigrant visa applicants from the Dominican Republic and that bonds could run from $100,000 to $250,000 depending on the officer’s assessment. For families going through consular green-card processing, the pilot adds a potentially significant and hard-to-predict cost to the final stage of the process.
Background
US immigration law has long allowed a bond to cure a public-charge refusal: section 213 of the Immigration and Nationality Act permits admission of an otherwise-inadmissible applicant if a suitable bond is posted, and USCIS regulations give the consular officer the authority to set the amount. In practice the mechanism was almost never used for decades. That changed recently. USCIS reinstated Form I-945, the public-charge bond form, in 2025, and a pending revision to the form explicitly adds the State Department as an entity that can initiate bond conditions and lets filers reference a consular case number instead of a domestic application receipt. The new pilot follows the State Department’s January 2026 suspension of immigrant visa processing in 75 countries while public-charge assessment procedures were reworked, a step law firm Fragomen cites as the direct backdrop to this program. It also sits alongside a separate program, made permanent on August 3, that requires visitor-visa bonds from nationals of countries with high overstay rates.
How the bond works
The process begins only with the consular officer: according to the State Department notice, an applicant cannot volunteer a bond to strengthen a borderline case. If the officer finds the applicant likely to become a public charge but considers a bond an acceptable remedy, the officer sets the amount and directs the applicant to post the bond with USCIS using Form I-945. The bond can be satisfied either as a direct cash payment or as a surety bond purchased from a company certified by the US government. Once the bond is accepted and the applicant is otherwise eligible, the immigrant visa that was refused under the public-charge ground can be issued.
The bond conditions at a glance
- Initiation: consular officer only; applicants cannot request a bond themselves.
- Amount: set case by case on the totality of the circumstances; no official minimum or maximum published. Bloomberg Law reports amounts in the $100,000 to $250,000 range.
- Initial scope: reported to start with immigrant visa applicants from the Dominican Republic; no timeline published for wider rollout.
- Form: posted with USCIS via Form I-945, as cash or a certified surety bond.
- Breach: triggered if the immigrant receives public cash assistance for income maintenance, or long-term institutional care at government expense.
- Refund: a cash bond can be returned after 5 years as a permanent resident, or on naturalisation, permanent departure from the US, or death, provided the person never became a public charge.
Who it affects
The pilot concerns immigrant visa applicants, meaning people processing permanent residence at a US consulate abroad rather than adjusting status inside the United States. Reporting indicates the first applicants affected are those processing from the Dominican Republic, but the underlying authority is not limited to one country, and the State Department has not published a list of consulates in or out of scope. Within consular caseloads, applicants whose financial profile is thin at interview time are the ones most likely to face a bond: a retired parent being sponsored by an adult child, or a family whose sponsor’s income sits close to the required threshold. Because the amount is discretionary, two similar families could face very different figures. Employment-based applicants with strong job offers are less likely to draw a public-charge finding in the first place, though the authority is not limited by category.
What this means in practice
Applicants preparing for consular immigrant-visa interviews now have a second possible outcome besides approval or refusal on financial grounds: a conditional path that carries a price tag set on the spot. The established route to avoiding it is unchanged, which is to document financial support thoroughly, including the sponsor’s affidavit of support, evidence of assets, and any joint sponsor. Anyone refused under the public-charge ground should note that a bond can only be offered by the officer, and that posting one creates a five-year compliance horizon in which drawing the specified public benefits would forfeit the money. Our United States country guide (/country-guides/united-states) covers the wider immigrant-visa process.
When it takes effect
The State Department published the notice and described the procedure as in use under a pilot program on August 5, 2026. Reporting indicates the initial rollout covers applicants from the Dominican Republic; no end date has been published.
What is not yet confirmed
The State Department’s own notice does not publish bond amount ranges, the pilot’s duration, or a country list; the Dominican Republic scope and the $100,000 to $250,000 range come from Bloomberg Law’s reporting, which quotes a department spokesperson. The notice page itself resisted automated retrieval, so its wording is summarised here from same-day alerts by Fragomen, AILA and other immigration law firms quoting it. Expect more detail as consulates begin applying the procedure.
Key Takeaway
Since August 5, 2026, a US consular officer can make an immigrant visa conditional on posting a public-charge bond of an officer-chosen amount, reportedly starting with applicants from the Dominican Republic and refundable after five years of permanent residence if no specified public benefits are drawn.