Visa Fees to Increase January 1

14 December 2007

State Department seal

Effective January 1, 2008, the application fees for U.S. immigrant and nonimmigrant visas will increase worldwide, announced Consul General Phillip Min of the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw.  The nonimmigrant fee will increase from $100 to $131; the immigrant visa fee will increase from $335 to $355.

"Persons wishing to avoid the fee increase can pay $100 between now and December 31, 2007 and schedule to have their interview up until January 31, 2008 without incurring further costs," Ambassador Ashe said.

The last non-immigrant visa fee increase made by the Department of State, which is responsible for setting visa fees, was in 2002, when visa fees worldwide went from $45 to $100.

In accordance with U.S. law, visa operations worldwide are financed primarily through visa application fees paid by visa applicants.  “Because of new security-related costs, new information technology systems, and inflation, the $100 MRV fee does not cover the actual cost of processing nonimmigrant visas,” said Min.

“For several years, the Department of State has been spending more money to issue visas than it is receiving in visa fees.  The previous $100 fee was already lower than the cost of processing nonimmigrant visas when the fee was reviewed in a cost of service study back in 2004,” added Min.

The fee increase for immigrant visas also reflects the cost of enhanced security features added to the immigrant visa system.

At the current exchange rate (used by the U.S. Embassy) of 2.5 zloty to the dollar, the new fee for a non-immigrant visa will be 327.50 zloty.  The new fee for an immigrant visa will be 887.5 zloty.

Applicants who have paid the prior $100 non-immigrant application fee before January 1, 2008, will be processed without further payment if they appear for a visa interview before January 31, 2008.  Applicants who have paid the prior $100 application fee and appear for visa interviews after January 31, 2008, must pay the difference – $31 – before they will be interviewed.

Similarly, applicants who have paid the prior $335 immigrant application fee before January 1, 2008 will be processed without further payment even if they appear for an immigrant visa interview after January 1, 2008.

Any payments made after January 1, 2008, regardless of the interview date, must be for the full $131 USD fee for a nonimmigrant visa and $355 for an immigrant visa.

Worldwide, U.S. embassies and consulates are now collecting 10 fingerprints from each applicant and the FBI's charges for review of those fingerprints requires the State Department to increase the nonimmigrant visa fee.

Security enhancements have driven previous visa fee increases.  The fee has been raised twice since 9/11.  Both increases were in 2002 when the MRV fee went from $45 to $65 and then to the current fee of $100.  Since that time, there have been many security enhancements to the visa process which have added to its cost.  Some of these enhancements, such as the collection of biometrics, are congressionally mandated.