U.S. Visa Application Fees to Rise June 4 (5/27/2010)

May 27, 2010

The U.S. Department of State has announced a worldwide increase in the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee for nonimmigrant visa applications and established a new, tiered MRV fee structure with separate fees for different visa categories.

Beginning on June 4, 2010, the nonimmigrant visa application fees are as follows:

• Application fees for all non-petition based visas, including those for business and tourism (B1/B2), students (F/M), exchange visitors (J), and crew (C1/D) will increase from HK$1040 (the equivalent of US$131) to HK$1120 (the equivalent of US$140).
• Application fees for visas that require an approved petition from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, which includes temporary workers and trainees (H), intra-company transferees (L), foreigners with extraordinary ability seeking to work in the United States (O), athletes, artists or entertainers seeking to perform in the United States (P), international cultural exchange visitors (Q), and religious workers (R) will increase from HK$1040 to HK$1200 (the equivalent of US$150).
• The application fee for treaty traders and investors and E-3 Australians in a specialty occupation (E visas) will increase from HK$1040 to HK$3120 (the equivalent of US$390).
• The application fee for fiance(e) visas (K) will increase from HK$1040 to HK$2800 (the equivalent to US$350).

Those applicants who have already paid the prior HK$1040 application fee will be processed without further payment only if they appear for a visa interview on or before June 3, 2010. Applicants who paid the prior HK$1040 application fee and appear for visa interviews on or after June 4, 2010 must pay the difference before they can be interviewed. Applicants will be instructed to pay any additional amount to the cashier at the U.S. Consulate General. Those applicants who have not yet paid a visa application fee will need to pay the new fee at Dah Sing Bank, which has a number of branches throughout Hong Kong.

Information about the visa application process, and a list of Dah Sing Bank locations where fees can be paid, can be found on the U.S. Consulate General web site.

Fact Sheet

Basis for the Visa Fee Increases

• The Department of State is required by U.S. law to recover the cost of processing nonimmigrant visas through the collection of the MRV fee.
• Periodically, independent contractors conduct a "Cost of Service Study" to determine direct and indirect costs to the U.S. Government of providing consular services, such as nonimmigrant visas.
• Such a study was completed in June 2009 using an activity-based costing model, which is standard for estimating the cost of government services.
• The Study determined that the cost of accepting, adjudicating, and issuing nonimmigrant visas will be greater than $131 in Fiscal Year 2010, which began October 1, 2009. Since the last fee increase in 2008, there have been new security-related costs, new IT systems have been put in place, and there is a new mandate from Congress to charge nonimmigrant visa applicants $1 to support programs to combat trafficking in persons.

Reasons for differentiated fees for certain types of nonimmigrant visas

• An independent study of consular operations costs shows that certain categories of nonimmigrant visas are more complicated and require more work than most other categories of nonimmigrant visas. Therefore, those categories of nonimmigrant visas have higher unit costs.
• The cost of accepting, adjudicating, and issuing the following categories of visas are appreciably higher than for other categories: E (treaty trader and investor); H (temporary worker or trainee); K (fiance(e)); L (intracompany transferee); O (alien with extraordinary ability); P (athlete, artist or entertainer); Q (international cultural exchange visitors); and R (religious worker). Each of these visa categories requires a review of extensive documentation and a more in-depth interview of the applicant than other categories, such as tourists.

Anticipated Impact on Volume of Travel to the United States

• Past increases in nonimmigrant visa fees did not negatively impact the number of applications received worldwide.
• The Department of State is aware that this fee increase may suppress the demand for nonimmigrant visas in some countries. However, the cost is still small compared to the cost of round-trip airfare from most countries to the United States.
• Most visas issued worldwide are tourist visas with a validity of ten years, meaning the bearer can visit the United States as often as he or she likes for ten years.

*     *     *     *     *