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The U.S. State Department has introduced a 12-month pilot program requiring citizens of Malawi and Zambia to pay a refundable $15,000 bond when applying for B-1/B-2 (tourist or business) visas. The policy aims to deter visa overstays and targets countries with high overstay rates, weak vetting, or citizenship-by-investment programs without residency requirements. According to 2023…

Read More U.S. Visa Overstay Data: How the Caribbean Compares to Malawi and Zambia

NOTE: This article was originally published on our sister blog: www.barbadoscrimeblog.com Introduction Around the second week of June, I decided to launch an online poll that asked one simple question: “How safe do you feel living in Barbados today?” This was not meant to be a formal survey (while that would have been more rigorous,…

Read More Barbados Safety Poll – June 2025: Background and Respondent Profile (Part 1)

“US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered US embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants.” Source: BBC article More than 1.1 million international students from over 210 countries were enrolled in US colleges in the 2023-24 school year, according to…

Read More Caribbean Student Enrollment in U.S. Colleges: 2000 to 2024