August 6, 2025

Contact:  media@haitianbridge.org, info@haitianbridge.org

SAN DIEGO, CA — Haitian Bridge Alliance unequivocally condemns the U.S. Department of State’s newly announced B 1/B 2 visa bond pilot program, set to begin August 20, 2025. The program requires citizens of Malawi and Zambia  to post refundable bonds of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a precondition for obtaining temporary visitor or business visa, with bond amounts determined during the interview process. Though the current list is limited to those two countries, the State Department has made clear that additional countries may be added on a rolling basis—particularly those with so-called “vetting deficiencies” or citizenship by investment programs without residency requirements.

The bond requirement is a financial barrier that disproportionately impacts Black and brown travelers—it is based solely on nationality, not individual circumstances or conduct.  In countries where average annual incomes are often well below $2,000, even the lowest bond level is equivalent to years of savings—making travel for family, business, tourism, or medical visits financially impossible. In Malawi, the GDP per capita is at roughly $509.00 USD and $1,235 USD in Zambia, respectively.

The pilot targets two predominantly Black African nations—despite the fact that visa overstay rates for these countries do not exceed those of many visa-waiver or exempt countries. This policy recycles exclusionary rhetoric introduced by the Trump administration and functions as a modern form of racial gatekeeping. This policy is likely to affect other predominantly Black and brown nations in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, such as Haiti, Eritrea, Sudan, Sierra Leone, and others, which are already impacted by  President Trump’s Proclamation earlier banning travel from certain countries.

“This bond policy institutionalizes racial bias. It has nothing to do with national security. It arbitrarily penalizes citizens of entire countries solely because they are Black, poor, or from non white nations. Period.,” said Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. Without urgent intervention, this one-year pilot may expand over time—entrenching in law a system that unfairly blocks entire populations from meaningful access to the United States, while threatening reciprocal travel freedoms for Americans around the world.”

If target countries respond by invoking visa reciprocity rules, U.S. passport holders could be barred from travel or face similar restrictions when traveling to Malawi, Zambia—or any future listed nation. This heightens the risk that the policy will disrupt bilateral tourism, visiting relatives, and business exchanges—not only for impacted nationals, but for average Americans as well.

HBA’s Call to Action

Haitian Bridge Alliance calls on U.S. leadership to:

1. Immediately repeal the visa bond requirement for Malawi and Zambia.
2. Ensure transparency and equity: base visa policy on individual assessments, not nationality, race or socioeconomic status.
3. Halt expansion to new countries—particularly those with populations of color that already face barriers to mobility.
4. Create immigration frameworks rooted in human dignity, family unity, and social justice.
5. Urge Congress to do its job by ensuring oversight

ABOUT HAITIAN BRIDGE ALLIANCE

Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), also known as “The Bridge”, is a grassroots community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies, foreign policy, and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black migrants, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. HBA also seeks to elevate the issues unique to Black migrants and builds solidarity and collective movement toward policy change. Anpil men chay pa lou (“Many hands make the load light”). Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook: @haitianbridge