Department of State Proposes Increase to Visa Application Fee

The Department of State on Monday, January 18, 2009, proposed a new rule in the Federal Register to increase nonimmigrant visa application processing fees. The Department stated that ongoing process and security enhancements have increased actual processing costs beyond the current $131 fee set on January 1, 2008.

An excerpt from the official statement reads, “The Department is proposing the increase to ensure sufficient resources to cover the increasing cost of processing nonimmigrant visas (NIVs). This increase applies both to nonimmigrant visas placed in passports and to border crossing cards issued to certain adult applicants in Mexico.”
 
"Under the proposed rule, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including all student and exchange visitor visas, would pay a fee of $140." The J-1 visa (the type of visa issued to an Au Pair) is not a petition-based visa and falls under the exchange visitor visas.

We will keep our Host Families and Au Pairs aware of the fee increase and any other changes that may come from the proposed change.

To learn more about this proposed rule change, visit the Department of State website. You can also read the statement in from the Federal Register.