US visa fees increase, less than first proposed by Department of State

The US Department of State has confirmed an increase in visa processing fees for a number of non-immigrant visa categories, including F and M student visas and J exchange visas, although the final costs are less than originally proposed.

In late December 2021, the Department of State published a draft rule on the change of fees for public comment, and proposed a 50 per cent increase in processing fees for non-immigrant visas from US$160 to US$245.

At the time of the publication, the Department of State said that the increases were needed to fully recover the cost of providing services under the Cost of Service Model (CoSM).

However, in the Final Rule published today by the Department of State, it has confirmed much lower fee increases.

Effective from May 30th 2023, the application processing fee for non-immigrant visas will increase to US$185, a 15.6 per cent increase over current levels – but US$60 (24.5 per cent) lower than the original proposal.

The Department explained that the proposed fees were calculated on a 10-year average of past and projected usage, and that the Covid-19 pandemic had altered the projections and helped to “stabilize fees at an amount sufficient to recover costs with only a modest increase to the consumer”.

In the Final Rule, the Department of State acknowledged that it received 61 public comments related to the impact on international education, including comments on the effect on higher education, the impact on the ELT sector, comments that the increased fees might drive students away, and comments that the fee increases were inconsistent with the Biden Administration’s professed policies for attracting international students.

“The Department believes this [lower] modification largely addresses the issues raised by the commenters, which appeared to be driven by financial impact on visa applicants,” it said in response.

At the time of the proposed increases, ELT provider association EnglishUSA said that the proposed increases were poor timing as schools were dealing with low enrolment challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic and this was not an anticipated action from the Department of State and Department of Education’s renewed commitment to international education announced in July 2021.

The Department of State is also postponing the proposed fee increase for the exchange visitor waiver of residency requirement (J-Waiver), which was originally planned to increase from US$120 to US$510.

Certain exchange visitor participants must apply for the visa waiver to stay in the USA beyond the date of their program or submit an application for a change in visa status, otherwise they are required to return home for two years before applying for another US visa.

The new fees will come into effect at the end of May.

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