Mali will require American visitors to post a visa bond of up to $10,000 for business and tourist travel. The decision came after the United States added Malians to a pilot program that demands bonds of $5,000 or $10,000 for B-1/B-2 visas.
This is a deposit, not a regular fee. The money is meant to be returned if the traveler leaves on time. Mali’s Foreign Ministry called the U.S. move unilateral and a breach of a 2005 visa agreement. Its answer was the same rule in reverse.
Washington framed bonds as a way to curb overstays and pressure governments on deportations and document security. Bamako framed its reply as dignity: Africa will not stay easy to enter while Africans pay steep sums to go the other way.
