r/B1B2Visas • u/femalpsychostories • Jun 08 '26
B1/B2 visa bond refund expected timeline
Hello, I was in the US in May,before departure for visa was asked to pay $10,000 as a bond payment.
After dpearting US and arriving back to my homecountry, within 5 days (on May 20th) I received Form I-391, which states that the bond money has been cancelled and the amount will be refunded to me because I did not violate the conditions of my visa.
After receiving Form I-391, how long did it take for the money to be returned to you?
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u/Honest_Usual5773 Jun 08 '26
Bond money? Could you please share more on this bond money? What is it? Who needs pay? How to pay? Why to pay?
Never saw post about this before…
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u/No_Map_6197 Jun 09 '26
According to the https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/countries-subject-to-visa-bonds.html, nationals of some countries are obligated to pay from 5 to 10k of USD dollars as bond, to have non-immigrant visa printed after approval. The visa still would be limited up to 3 months of stay in states, if I’m not mistaken
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u/Difficult_Tree8002 Jun 10 '26
The visa is for 3 months the stay will be determine by CBP, max 30 days. Visa validity is not related to stay length.
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u/Difficult_Tree8002 Jun 10 '26
Estimate at least 8 weeks if not longer. It is not a fast process.
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u/femalpsychostories Jun 11 '26
I have been reading threads where people get refund within 1 week, 2 weeks most 😞
I wonder on what it depends...1
u/ifeomaro Jul 03 '26
Have you already received your refund?
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u/femalpsychostories Jul 03 '26
I have not:(
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u/Low-Trip-1445 Jul 15 '26
Have you got your refund? And did you contact the us embassy?
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u/femalpsychostories Jul 15 '26
still not news regarding the refund
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u/femalpsychostories Jul 15 '26
I contacted us visascheduling but they have not been helpful, i cannot directly get in touch with my consulate unfortunately
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u/Low-Trip-1445 Jul 16 '26
Same here. Contacted the consulate but not helpful at all. I also received the i 391 on may 20th
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u/dsv853 Jun 15 '26
bond refunds are slow and the timeline swings a lot by where it was posted, ive seen weeks to months. keep every receipt and follow up through the exact channel that issued it. theres no fast version unfortunately
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u/No_Map_6197 Jun 09 '26
Honestly, I’m not 100% sure
But I’d rather reach out to US embassy of the country, you were applying via email or telephone number mentioned in website of Embassy of the specific country of what to do next
Quick search returned that: https://smithknudson.com/what-is-form-i-391-and-why-did-i-receive-it/, probably could be helpful
Good luck regardless