US increases tourist & students' visa fees: Check new prices effective May 30

The US State Department has announced an increase in the visa fee for students, tourists and others to enter into the United states. The new prices will be effective from May 30,2023.

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.

However, the consular fees are not affected by this rule that includes the waiver of the two-year residency required fee for certain exchange visitors. "All fee payments for visa interviews made on or after October 1 of the previous year are valid for 365 days from the date of issue of the fee payment invoice. Fees paid by applicants before October 1, 2022, will continue to be valid until September 30 of this year. As a result, applicants must pre-schedule an interview or submit an interview waiver application before September 30, 2023," the release by the department said.

The US said that they are committed to facilitate legitimate travel for both immigrant and non-immigrant travellers.

According to them, they use Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodology to calculate the cost of providing consular services, including visa services.

“Visas for work and tourism is essential to President Biden foreign policy, and we recognise the critical role international travel play for U.S. economy,” statement said.

NIV (Nonimmigrant visa application) 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 fees for most non-petition based NIVs were last updated in 2012, and certain other NIV fees were last updated in 2014.