The United States has announced an increase in non-immigrant visa application (NIV) and study visa processing fees.
In a statement on Wednesday, the US department of state said the hike was necessitated after a review of the country’s costs of providing these services.
The new fee will be effective from May 30.
“These increases were published in the federal register on March 28, 2023, and will be effective on May 30, 2023,” the statement reads.
“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 $160 to $185. The fee for certain petition-based nonimmigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) will increase from $190 to $205. The fee for a treaty trader, treaty investor, and treaty applicants in a specialty occupation (E category) will increase from $205 to $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 most non-petition based NIVs were last updated in 2012 and certain other NIV fess were last updated in 2014.
The U.S said other consular fees were not affected by this rule, including the waiver of the tw-year resdiency required fee for certain exchange visitors.
