US increasing visa fees

JamaicaObserver.com

Friday, May 21, 2010 | 2:22 PM

THE United States will be increasing visa fees worldwide, including Jamaica, effective Friday June 4.

All persons whose interviews fall on or after that date must pay the new fees. Applicants with interviews scheduled for June 4 and who have already paid according to the old fee schedule must now return to NCB to pay the difference for their applications to be processed.

Under the new fees petition-based visas cost more than non-petition based visas.

New fee scehdule:

Non-petition-based visas:

Visitor (B1/B2) US$140
Crewmember (C1/D) US$140
Student visas (F1 and M1) US$140
Treaty Trader/Investor (E1 or E2) US$390

Petition-based visas:

Temporary skilled workers (H-1B) US$150
Temporary seasonal workers (H-2B) US$150
Intra-company transferees (L1) US$150
Performers (O and P) US$150
Fiancé-based visas (K) US$350

A release from the US Embassy said that that the increased fees were necessary, "to better reflect the actual cost of providing services". It said that until now only 94 per cent of costs were recovered by visa fees, with the monthly US$5.4 million shortfall being borne by the US taxpayer

Although the treaty trader (E1) and treaty investor (E2) visa classes are not petition-based, they will now be set at US$390 to reflect the real cost of processing document-intensive visa categories.

For more information visit the US Embassy website: http://kingston.usembassy.gov

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