Over its first nine months in the White House, the Trump administration has targeted multiple African nations with either full travel bans or extensive restrictions for coming into the United States.

Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Chad, the Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea are all included in the travel ban that Trump brought back from his first term in June 2025, while citizens of Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Togo now face additional restrictions on certain types of work and student visas.

In August, the State Department started requiring citizens of Malawi and Zambia to put down a bond of $15,000 to apply for certain types of U.S. visas, and the West African nation of Mali was added to the list with a bond requirement of up to $10,000 earlier this month.

“Countries may be included in the pilot based on high overstay rates, screening and vetting deficiencies, concerns regarding acquisition of citizenship by investment without a residency requirement, and foreign policy considerations,” the State Department said in a statement justifying the decision.

Mali will impose “same conditions and requirements on U.S. nationals”

Not long after the announcement, Mali’s Foreign Affairs Ministry responded by saying that any U.S. citizen trying to enter its territory would now also need to post a bond of $10,000 when applying for a visa.

“In accordance with the principle of reciprocity, Mali has decided to introduce an identical visa program, imposing the same conditions and requirements on U.S. nationals as those applied to Malian citizens,” reads the government agency’s statement.

Related: US government scraps restrictions for travelers from one country

The new requirement went into effect Oct. 23, and according to the Malaian government, it will stay in place until the U.S. goes back to honoring a 2005 agreement that maintains open visa access between the two countries.

Prior to the change, U.S. citizens seeking to enter Mali for business and tourism could apply for a three-year visa by paying $185 and submitting documents at an embassy.

While home to many beautiful landscapes, Mali has a history of war and government takeover.

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While tourism to Mali remains rare, new rules pose additional restrictions

While travel into Mali from Western countries remains very rare due to a history of war and government takeover (the current government came into place through an Islamist coup in 2021), the move is a response to what Mali’s leadership sees as U.S. hostility toward the country.

The Foreign Ministry said that it has “always collaborated with the United States of America in the fight against irregular immigration, with respect for law and human dignity” and would be open to further “fruitful cooperative relations.”

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Two months after the program was introduced for Malawi and Zambia last August, the African nations of Mauritania, São Tomé and Principe, and Tanzania, along with Mali, were added to the list of countries for which bonds are required.

The pilot program also restricts travelers from these countries from entering the United States through only three major airports with the necessary facilities for processing and recording the new bond payments. These include Boston Logan International, John F. Kennedy International, and Washington Dulles.

Related: A major airline looks at two more flights between Africa, US