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… Reduces fees for immigrants’The US has announced an increase of the tourist and business visas while there has been a decrease in all other categories of visas.The changes, according to a US Embassy statement yesterday, are to take effect from April 13, 2012.The fees for most non-immigrant visa applications and Border Crossing Cards will increase, while all immigrant visa processing fees will decrease.Increasing from US$140 to US$160 are visa processing fees for Tourist, Business, Transit, Crew Member,Wholesale Jerseys, Student, Exchange Visitor, and Journalist.The US said that the current fees, in some cases just do not cover the cost processing the visas.“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.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.”The US Georgetown Embassy added that 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 U.S. citizens) will decrease.Non immigrant Visa Processing FeesType of VisaPrevious FeeNew FeeTourist, Business, Transit, Crew Member, Student, Exchange Visitor, and Journalist visas$140$160Petition-Based visas (H, L, O, P, Q, and R)$150$190Treaty Investor and Trader visas (E)$390$270Fiancé(e) visas (K)$350$240Border Crossing Cards (age 15 and older)$140$160Border Crossing Cards (under age 15)$14$15Because of a reallocation of costs associated with immigrant visas, all categories of immigrant visa processing fees will decrease, the embassy said.Immigrant Visa Processing FeesType of VisaPrevious FeeNew FeeImmediate Relative and Family Preference Applications$330$230Employment-Based Applications$720$405Other Immigrant Visa Applications$305$220Diversity Visa Program Fee$440$330Determining Returning Resident Status$380$275 |
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