List: These new countries must pay up to $15,000 bonds for visa applications

The State Department added this week 12 countries to a growing list whose citizens must post bonds of up to $15,000 when applying for U.S. visas. 

Here’s what to know about the program and which countries were added: 

US visa bonds

Big picture view:

Visa applicants from designated countries, many of which are in Africa, which have high overstay rates, now have to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 depending on their circumstances and the discretion of the consular officer processing the application.

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The backstory:

The program was rolled out by the Trump administration last year as it cracked down on visa overstays and more broadly moved to curtail illegal migration.

The bond is refunded if the visa application is denied or, if granted, the person adheres to the terms of the visa.

By the numbers:

After April 2, there will be 50 countries whose citizens are subject to the requirement, with 12 more countries recently added. 

Those countries are: 

• Cambodia
• Ethiopia
• Georgia
• Grenada
• Lesotho
• Mauritius
• Mongolia
• Mozambique
• Nicaragua
• Papua New Guinea
• Seychelles
• Tunisia

See the full list from the State Department here. 

What they're saying:

"The visa bond program has already proven effective at drastically reducing the number of visa recipients who overstay their visas and illegally remain in the United States," the department said, adding that almost 97% of the nearly 1,000 people to have posted the bond had not overstayed their visa.