The Bureau of Consular Affairs with the Department of State has just
issued a proposed rule to increase certain immigration fees. According
to the notice, the fee for processing applications for most
nonimmigrant visas that do not require petitions and adult Border
Crossing Cards will be increasing from $131 to $140. Additionally, some
petition-based nonimmigrant visas, along with the treaty trader and
investor visa, will also see an increase in application fees. The rule
will also increase the fee for Mexican citizen minors who apply for
entry from Mexico and whose parent or guardian either has a Border
Crossing Card or is in the process of applying for a card, from $13 to
$14.
These fee increases are being implemented, the Department of State
says, in response to results from a recent independent cost of service
study that found that the U.S. Government is not fully covering the
expenses of processing these visa types with the current level of fees.
Written comments regarding this proposed rule may be submitted up to 60
days from the publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
