Nonimmigrant Visa Fees Set to Increase, While Immigrant Visa Fees Will Decrease

The Department of State has announced that, effective April 13, 2012, there will be a change in visa processing fees for both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications. The fees for most nonimmigrant visa applications and Border Crossing Cards will increase, while all immigrant visa processing fees will decrease.

Most categories of nonimmigrant visa fees will increase, with the exception of the fee for E visas (treaty-traders and treaty-investors) and K visas (for fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens), which will in fact decrease.

As the Department is required to recover the cost of visa processing with its fees, it has reported that the nonimmigrant fees have increased because the current fees are no longer sufficient to cover this cost.The fee increase will support the addition and expansion of overseas facilities,as well as allow for additional staffing required to meet increased visa demand.The immigrant visa fees will decrease due to a reallocation of costs associated with such visas.
 
The proposed fees were published in an interim rule in the Federal Register. Comments are being accepted on the rule through the end of May. At that time, the Department will consider the public comments, and the published final rule will include the Department’s response to any comments received.

Fee information may be found on the Department of State website, travel.state.gov, as well as on the websites of the various U.S. embassies and consulates.