US Hikes Visa Fee

DEPARTMENT of State of the United States of America has announced that it will adjust its visa processing fees, effective April 13, 2012. Under the new regime, the fee for most non-immigrant visa applications and border crossing cards will increase, while all immigrant visa processing fees will decrease. In defending its decision, the Department said for a number of reasons, the current fees no longer cover the actual cost of processing non-immigrant visas. It argued that the non-immigrant visa fee increase would support the addition and expansion of overseas facilities as well as additional staffing required to meet increased visa demand. The Department maintained that it was required to recover the cost of processing visas through the collection of application fees. It added that although most categories of non-immigrant visa processing fees would increase, the fee for E visas (treaty-traders and treaty-investors) and K visas (for fiancé(e)s of US citizens) will decrease. Under the non-immigrant visa, processing fees for tourist, business, transit, crew member, student, exchange visitor and journalist visa, which used to be $140, will now go for $160. Petition-based visas (H, L, O, P, Q, and R), currently $150, will now go for $190; treaty investor and trader visas (E)jumps from $390 to $270; Fiancé(e) visas (K) from $350 to $240; border crossing cards (age 15 and older) jerks from $140 to $160, while border crossing cards (under age 15) jumps from $14 to $15. A statement from US Embassy which confirmed the new fee regime noted that because of a reallocation of costs associated with immigrant visas, all categories of immigrant visa processing fees would decrease. Christian Okeke 31 Mar 2012