2007 Press Releases

Application Fees for Non-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 worldwide increase allows the Department to recover the costs of security and other enhancements to the non-immigrant visa application process. 

Under U.S. law, government 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.  New security-related measures have caused the cost of providing non-immigrant visas 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 non-immigrant visas.  The Department nevertheless made a decision to keep the fee at $100 and has been absorbing the excess 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 processing non-immigrant visas.

Among the increased costs the fee increase will account for are new security-related charges for the FBI's ten- fingerprint and name check requirements.  Because the Department must begin paying for the FBI's services starting January 1, 2008, it must raise the application fee at the same time in order to avoid a significant shortfall that could jeopardize its ability to finance the new visa- related security measures.

The Department plans to complete its next cost of service study for consular services in 2008 and will review this fee again at that time.