The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Bhutan may have been breathing a sigh of relief that it is not on any travel ban list of 39 countries, but all is not well as from 1st January 2026 Bhutan will be in a list of 13 countries that will need visa bonds for the business and tourism visas category.
The United States State Department on its website on 17th December listed Bhutan along with countries like Botswana, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Namibia and Turkmenistan that will have the bond from 1st January 2026.
Others in the list earlier were Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, The Gambia, Malawi and Zambia put on the list between August and October 2025.
The visa bond applies on the B1/B2 visa often issued as a combined visa.
B1 is for business like meetings, conferences, contract negotiation and the B2 is for pleasure or tourism like vacation, visiting family, medical treatment. These visas allow multiple entries and permit stays typically up to 6 months.
Bhutanese found eligible for a B1/B2 visa, must post a bond for USD 5,000, USD 10,000, or USD 15,000. The amount is determined at the time of the visa interview.
The applicant must also submit a Department of Homeland Security Form I-352. Applicants must agree to the terms of the bond through the Department of the Treasury’s online payment platform Pay.gov.
Applicants should submit Form I-352 to post a bond only after a consular officer directs them to do so. Applicants will get a direct link to pay through Pay.gov. They must not use any third-party website for posting the bond as the U.S. Government is not responsible for any money paid outside of its systems.
A bond does not guarantee visa issuance. If someone pays fees without a consular officer’s direction, this person will not get that money back.
As a condition of the bond, all visa holders who have posted a visa bond must enter and exit the United States through the designated ports of entry. Not doing this might lead to a denied entry or a departure that is not properly recorded. The ports are Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).
The Department of Homeland Security will send cases where the visa holder may have broken the visa bond terms to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Visa breach may be in situations like overstay, departing after the last date and applying for nonimmigrant status, including claiming asylum.
The main reason for Bhutan being on the visa bond list is due to visa overstay.
In the latest 2023-2024 Financial Year Entry Exit Overstay Report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) it shows a high visa overstay rate for Bhutan.
The average rate of visa overstays for citizens of 154 countries (that do not have visa waiver) under the popular B1/B2 visa category is 2.33% while Bhutan’s overstay rate in this category is 21.75%. There are 6 other countries with higher percentages than Bhutan.
This means Bhutan’s rank is 7th highest in this category between October 2023 and September 2024.
423 people were supposed to exit but 92 did not.
This is compared to 12.71% overstay rate in 2022-23 FY with Bhutan at 20th position and 23 people not exiting out of 181 in this visa category.
In 2021-2022 FY, Bhutan’s Overstay rate for the business and pleasure (tourism) visa category was 60.18% ranking in second place. In 2020-21 FY it was 9.02% ranking in 26th place. In 2019-20 FY it was 16.67% ranking in 8th place. In 2018-19 FY it was 13.07% ranking in 11th place. In 2017-18 FY it was 14.21% ranking in 5th place. In 2016-17 FY it was 25.89% ranking in 3rd place. In 2015-16 FY it was 24.89% and in 2014-15 FY it was 20.29% ranking in second place in both years.
While the percentages are high, the absolute numbers are very small when compared to other larger countries, but US authorities are focused on the percentages.
The good development for Bhutan is that it is not on the travel ban list of 39 countries.
Trump has placed a complete travel ban on 19 countries like Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and individuals travelling on Palestinian Authority issued or endorsed travel documents.
The partial restrictions are on 20 countries like Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan.
The Foreign Minister D.N Dhungyel said he has seen the notification but is awaiting a formal report from Bhutan’s mission in New York.
