The United States of America has increased non-immigrant visa application (NIV) processing fees.
The increase in certain NIV fees was published in the Federal Register on March 28, 2023, and will be effective on 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 non-immigrant 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,” the U.S. government said in the document.
It added that the NIV fees are set based on the real cost of providing NIV services after conducting a study of the cost of such services.
It also said that an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodology was implemented calculating the cost of providing consular services, including visa services annually. Nigeria recalls that the fees for most non-petition-based NIVs were last updated in 2012, and certain other NIV fees were last updated in 2014.
The U.S. said other consular fees are not affected by this rule, including the waiver of the two-year residency required fee for certain exchange visitors.