The cost of some non-immigrant visa applications (NIV) will increase, according to the US government.
The student visa, exchange guest visa, petition-based non-immigrant visas for temporary workers, and treaty applicants are all impacted by the 15% increase.
The announcement, which was made public on the travel.state.gov website of the Bureau of Consular Affairs as well as the websites of US embassies and consulates, is as follows:
“These increases went into effect on May 30, 2023, and were announced in the Federal Register on March 28, 2023. In addition to other non-petition based NIVs including student and exchange visitor visas, the fee for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s and BCCs) would rise from $160 to $185.
Certain petition-based nonimmigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) will now cost $205 instead of $190. Treaty traders, investors, and candidates for a speciality vocation (E category) will have to pay a charge that has increased from $205 to $315.
“After performing a research of the cost of these services, NIV rates are established depending on the actual cost of providing NIV services. The department determines the annual cost of delivering consular services, including visa services, using an activity-based costing (ABC) methodology.
“Some other NIV fees were last updated in 2014, and the fees for the majority of non-petition based NIVs were last updated in 2012.”
Other consular fees, like as the removal of the two-year residency requirement fee for some exchange visits, are unaffected by this provision.
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