Visas
Application Fees for Non-Immigrant and Immigrant Visas to Increase on January 1, 2008
Effective January 1, 2008, the application fee for a
U.S. nonimmigrant visa will increase from $100 to $131.
This increase allows the Department to recover the costs
of security and other enhancements to the non-immigrant
visa application process. This increase applies both to
non-immigrant visas issued on machine-readable foils in
passports and to border crossing cards issued to certain
applicants in Mexico.
Applicants who paid the prior $100 application fee
before January 1 will be processed only if they are
scheduled and appear for a visa interview before January
31. Applicants who paid the prior $100 application fee
and appear for visa interviews after January 31, 2008 must
pay the difference -- $31 -- before they can be
interviewed.
Under U.S. law, agencies are expected to recover the
costs of providing services insofar as possible. The
increase in this fee is necessary for the Department to
recover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas and
border crossing cards. New security-related measures have
caused the cost of providing NIVs and BCCs to rise
significantly. In addition, the Department's previous
cost study in 2004 showed that the $100 fee was
insufficient to permit the Department to recover the costs
of providing MRVs and BCCs. The Department nevertheless
made a decision to keep the fee at $100 and has been
absorbing the excess MRV and BCC costs since then. With
costs rising even further due to the new security measures
in place, the Department can no longer afford to continue
absorbing the excess cost of providing MRVs and BCCs.
Fees for immigrant visas will increase by $20, to
$355, beginning on January 1, 2008, to cover similar cost
increases in immigrant visa services. Immigrant visa
applicants who paid the current US$335 fee prior to
January 1, 2008, will be processed without further payment
even if they appear for their immigrant visa interview after
January 1, 2008.