U.S increases visa application fee from March 30

The U.S. government has announced an increment for its non-migrant visa application fee effective from March 30
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The U.S. Mission in Nigeria, which said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, disclosed that the increases were published in the Federal Register on March 28
 
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According to the U.S. government, the changes is in line with the Department of State’s commitment to facilitating legitimate travel to the United States for both immigrant and nonimmigrant travellers
 
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“The Department of State published a Final Rule regarding increases to certain non-immigrant visa application (NIV) processing fees and the Border Crossing Card (BCC) for Mexican citizens age 15 and over
 
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“These increases were published in the Federal Register on March 28, 2023 and will be effective on May 30, 2023
 
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“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 dollars to 185 dollars,” it stated
 
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The mission said that the fee for certain petition-based non-immigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) would increase from 190 dollars to 205 dollars
 
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“The fee for a treaty trader, treaty investor, and treaty applicants in a specialty occupation (E category) will increase from 205 dollars to 315 dollars
 
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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
 
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“The Department uses an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodology to calculate, annually, the cost of providing consular services, including visa services
 
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“The fees for most non-petition based NIVs were last updated in 2012, and certain other NIV fees were last updated in 2014,” it stated
 
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According to the mission, other consular fees are not affected by this rule, including the waiver of the two-year residency required fee for certain exchange visitors.