Since the launch of the U.S. visa bond pilot program, Georgian applicants have not received 10-year visas, according to Tinatin Goguadze, founder of e-Consul. Speaking on Business Morning, she said that while some of the 50 participating countries have seen long-term visas issued under the new rules, this has not yet happened in Georgia.
Goguadze noted that even applicants with strong travel histories or expired 10-year U.S. visas are still subject to the new deposit requirement. Based on e-Consul’s internal statistics, around 90% of approved applicants received visas only after being assigned a financial guarantee, while the remaining cases were moved into administrative review.
According to her, all approved Georgian applicants so far have been required to pay a USD 10,000 deposit. During the interview process, consular officers now inform applicants about the required deposit amount but no longer keep passports immediately after approval.
Applicants receive payment instructions electronically within about seven days and must transfer the funds through the official U.S. government portal pay.gov within 30 days. Once the payment is confirmed, the consulate contacts the applicant again with instructions for submitting the passport.
Since April 2, 2026, Georgia has been included in the U.S. visa deposit pilot program alongside 49 other countries. Under the new rules, tourist and business visas (B1/B2) are issued for three months, while applicants must provide a refundable financial guarantee ranging from USD 5,000 to USD 15,000.
