The United States Embassy has announced an increase in fees for non-immigrant visa applications and Border Crossing Cards. Although most categories of non-immigrant visa processing fees will increase, the fee for E visas (treaty-traders and treaty-investors) and K visas (for fiancé(e)s of US citizens) will decrease, a statement from the US Embassy said yesterday. The embassy said tourist, business, transit, crew member, student, exchange visitor and journalist visas will move from US$140 to US$160.
These adjustments will take effect from April 13. The US Embassy said, "The department is required to recover, as far as possible, the cost of processing visas through the collection of application fees. For a number of reasons, the current fees no longer cover the actual cost of processing non-immigrant visas."
It said the non-immigrant-visa fee increase will support the addition and expansion of overseas facilities, as well as additional staffing required to meet increased visa demand. Fee information may also be found on the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site, travel.state.gov, and on the Web sites of US Embassies and Consulates.