The United States has increased the visa fees. The State Department of the United States has said in its release that the US is committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the United States for both immigrant and nonimmigrant travelers.
According to the press statement, the Department of State published a Final Rule regarding increases to certain nonimmigrant visa application (NIV) processing fees and the Border Crossing Card (BCC) for Mexican citizens age 15 and over.
These increases were published in the Federal Register on March 28, 2023 and will be effective on May 30, 2023.
The fee for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s and BCCs), and other non-petition based NIVs such as student and exchange visitor visas, will increase from US $160 to US $185.
The fee for certain petition-based non-immigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) will increase from US $190 to US $205.
The fee for a treaty trader, treaty investor, and treaty applicants in a specialty occupation (E category) will increase from Us $205 to US $315.
NIV fees are set based on the actual cost of providing NIV services and are determined after conducting a study of the cost of these services.
The Department uses an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodology to calculate, annually, the cost of providing consular services, including visa services.
The fees for most non-petition based NIVs were last updated in 2012, and certain other NIV fees were last updated in 2014.
Other consular fees are not affected by this rule, including the waiver of the two-year residency required fee for certain exchange visitors.
Visas for work and tourism are essential to the US President Biden’s foreign policy, and we recognize the critical role international travel plays in the U.S. economy.
Fee information can be found on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website, travel.state.gov, and on the websites of U.S. embassies and consulates.
