DOS Increases Visa Application Fees as of Jan 1, 2008
Posted Dec 28, 2007
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published an Interim Final Rule to increase the fee for nonimmigrant visa applications from $100 to $131 and immigrant visa applications from $335 to $355. The increases will be effective as of January 1, 2008. The public is invited to send written comments on this interim rule to the DOS through February 29, 2008.
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Increase Result of Costlier Visa Issuance Procedures
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The DOS is required by law to recover the cost of processing nonimmigrant visas through the collection of the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) application fee. Because of new security-related expenses, new information technology systems, and inflation the current fee is lower than the cost involved. The DOS has been absorbing the additional expenditure. In addition, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will begin charging the DOS for checking fingerprints against the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) and for running visa applicant names through Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) processes. The DOS is now collecting ten fingerprints from each applicant, and the amount charged by the FBI to review those fingerprints no longer allows the DOS to continue at the current rate. The visa application fee has increased twice since September 11, 2001; most recently in 2002.
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Conclusion
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While the total increase in the visa issuance fee may appear to be relatively small, it is substantial in terms of percentage. Hopefully, those applying for their visas will not be impacted on as large a scale as during the summer of 2007, when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) raised filing fees by 100 percent and more for most of the petitions and applications filed with that agency.