00:00Under the policy, selected applicants must post a significant refundable bond.
00:12U.S. officials say it targets visa overstays, but business groups warn it prices out legitimate travel.
00:19So you're having someone's capital that is being held for three months, and if they have it,
00:25which is meant to pay maybe for the payroll, to be able to take care of inventory,
00:32to be able to take care of a technological upgrade and all that,
00:36and you're asking this person that you must have this amount of money,
00:41or according to the interview, because again there's that leeway according to the interview,
00:45that you'll be asked a certain amount of money.
00:48So it's going to have its huge impact.
00:50The bond is required when applying for a visa and then refunded if the application is denied
00:56or if the terms of unissued visa are not breached.
00:59Entrepreneurs say the requirement could limit engagement with U.S. partners,
01:04with smaller businesses feeling the most pressure.
01:06The Uganda government, however, says state operations are not directly affected.
01:12We have very good bilateral relations, Andy.
01:14We are negotiating trade deals, we are negotiating these immigration aspects,
01:21we negotiate, of course, tariffs, and so on, commercial.
01:26With more than 20 nations on the list,
01:28the policy is forcing a continent-wide rethink of global business strategy.
01:33Uganda has positioned itself as an emerging investment destination,
01:38but business leaders say policies like the U.S. visa bond
01:41could limit direct engagement with American partners and investors.
01:46As the rules take effect, some are already looking beyond traditional markets.
01:51If Uganda is a food basket, why shouldn't we do that for the rest of the African countries,
01:57that we can do commercial at large scale?
01:59And if we think that Morocco is more into tourism,
02:03so why don't we shape the Morocco tourism to have Moroccans come to Uganda
02:07and they come and see what we are doing, so we'll earn from each other.
02:10So I think it's, yes, we shall see so much that shaping up,
02:15looking out to other Asian markets, European markets.
02:18Faced with higher barriers to one market,
02:21businesses across Africa are now weighing the cost of U.S. access
02:25against the growing opportunities closer to home and elsewhere in the world.
02:30vegan markets.
02:37You can see how many companies are in the world.
02:39A lot of countries are not really strong enough.
02:39But for us, obviously, I've just seen that they know that in the world,
02:41in the world, some countries can see it's expensive.
02:43So you can see it's expensive.
02:44So you can see them in the world,
02:45and, as you can see it,
02:46it's expensive.
02:47So you can see it's expensive.
02:49So you can see it,
02:50and that we're testing it out,
02:51so you can see it.
02:52So you can see it's expensive.
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