Posted: 1:53 am EDT
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via travel.state.gov

Nonimmigrant visa application processing fees are tiered based on the visa category and are non-refundable whether the application is approved or refused. Note that the fee is for a “processing fee” and not an issuance fee (subject to reciprocity). Nonimmigrant visa applicants from certain countries/areas of authority may be required to pay a visa issuance fee after their application is approved. These fees are based on the principle of  reciprocity:  when a foreign government imposes fees on U.S. citizens for certain types of visas, the United States will impose a reciprocal fee on citizens of that country/area of authority for similar types of visas.

The visa processing fees range from “No Fee” for applicants for A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO, and diplomatic visas, to non-petition-based nonimmigrant visa (except E) at $160.00 and petition based visa categories at $190.00.

E  visas or Treaty Trader/Investor, Australian Professional Specialty category visa is currently $205.00

K visas for Fiancé(e) or Spouse of U.S. citizen category visa is $265.00

It looks like the most expensive is the L visa fraud prevention and detection fee – for visa applicant included in L blanket petition   where the principal applicant is charged $500.00.

In any case, if we just calculate the consular revenue from 6,276,997 visitor visa applicants in FY2014 at $160 per applicant, that’s $1,004,319,520 or real serious money.

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