2 minute read | Last update: March 24, 2025
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▼The nonimmigrant visa fee, which includes the tourist and business visa B1/B2, will see a price surge this year for the first time in a decade.
The U.S. Department of State announced the price adjustment in a resolution published on March 28th, 2023. Changes will come into effect starting May 30th, 2023.
Therefore, the tourist visa application will carry a cost of $185. Currently the applying for a nonimmigrant visa costs $160.
The price hike will impact the Border Crossing Card (BCC) which is available for Mexican citizens over 15 years of age, as well as other visas.
Which visas to the U.S. will rise their price?
The official statement published by the Department of State said that visitor visas, including B1/B2 and BBC, will see a price increase of 15%. Applicants will have to pay $185 instead of $160.
Student visas and exchange students which belong to category J will also be affected by the changes in prices.
The price adjustment includes increments to fees on nonimmigrant visas destined to temporary jobs (categories H, L, O, P, Q and R) which will increase its price to $205.
Last but not least, the merchants and investors visa (category E) fee will have a new price of $315.
Below you will find the current visa fees and the upcoming fees that will come into effect at the end of May:
| Nonimmigrant visa | Current visa fee | Visa fee starting May 30 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Tourism and Business Visa B1/B2 | $160 | $185 |
| Border Crossing Card (BCC) | $160 | $185 |
| Category J visas (regular and exchange students) | $160 | $185 |
| Category H, L, O, P, Q and R visas (temporary work) | $190 | $205 |
| Category E1, E2 and E3 visas (merchants and investors) | $205 | $315 |
Important: if you need to process a visa to the United States, keep in mind that MRV visa application fees were delayed.
Why has the U.S. increased their visa fees?
The Department of State made the decision to increase all nonimmigrant visa fees to cover the rising costs of consular services.
They explained that visa fees to visit the U.S. have not been modified since 2012. Specifically, changes had not been made to nonimmigrant visas for quite some time.
However, maintenance costs for the U.S. government have increased since then. Category E visas did see a price increase in 2014.
The Department specified that it is incurring additional costs around various nonimmigrant visa application processing fees, the adult BCC, and the J-Waiver fee.
It pointed out that these costs are not reflected in the current visa fees.
To come up with new visa fees, authorities made a calculation based on the average visa demand over the past 10 years.
The modifications to the fees should contribute to stabilize the work carried out by consular offices for a lengthy period.
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