On January 1, 2026, Turkmenistan was quietly added – alongside five African countries and Bhutan – to the U.S. State Department’s visa bond pilot program, under which otherwise eligible applicants for business or tourism visas will have to post a bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 in order to enter the United States.
This comes weeks after Turkmenistan was the only country to see the partial ban on visas for its citizens removed, even as the Trump administration worked to restrict the entry of additional foreign nationals to the United States.
The average monthly salary in Turkmenistan is estimated to be around 2,750 manator around $141, per month, according to the Progres Foundation (using the black market exchange rate, rather than the official rate).
Once again, entry to the United States is being pushed beyond the reach of most Turkmen.
In August 2025, the U.S. State Department launched a 12-month visa bond pilot program. Under the program, foreign travelers from select countries on B-1 or B-2 visas – that is for business or pleasure, respectively – are subject to a mandatory, reimbursable bond as a condition of receiving a visa.
The program, according to a public notice posted to the Federal Registertargets countries with high visa overstay rates, those where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or countries “offering Citizenship by Investment” schemes. (Ironically, U.S. President Donald Trump in September 2025 announced a “Gold Card” immigrant visa for individuals making “gifts” of $1 million to the U.S. Department of Commerce).
Turkmenistan was among the batch of countries subject to partial bans on the issuance of nonimmigrant – business, tourism, student, and exchange – visas in June 2025. The official references to Turkmenistan mentioned only the country’s high overstay rate.
As I reported at the timewhile Turkmenistan’s rates – as a percentage – were, indeed, relatively high in the most recent data from 2023, they were in individual terms exceedingly low.
Turkmenistan is a notoriously isolated country. Not many Turkmen manage to obtain visas to the United States in the first place.
According to the same 2023 Entry/Exit Overstay Report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the number of Turkmen business or tourist (B-1/B-2) visa holders expected to depart was 925. Of that number, 142 overstayed their visa – 136 who were suspected to remain in the country and six who departed, but after their visa had expired. This translates to a total overstay rate of 15.35 percent (14.7 percent if those who had departed the U.S. are left out). The number of nonimmigrant student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa holders was 207, with 45 overstays – four of which are believed to have departed the country – for a total overstay rate of 21.74 percent (19.81 percent, leaving out the late departures).
And the U.S. government’s determination rested solely on these figures, without context. An examination of past overstay rates revealed a massive spike after 2020, arguably a result of the Turkmen government’s own policies, which left citizens whose passports had expired abroad with no way to renew their documents.
Once again, the 2023 figures are being used to justify an exclusionary policy divorced from a genuine threat assessment.
The good news, if there is any, is that visa bond program does not apply to student visas. But that’s little comfort for any other Turkmen wishing to visit the United States.