This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh, Fredrikson Immigration Department Chair, is a member.
The Department of State (DOS) has proposed raising fees for consular services for several nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application processing fees, the Border Crossing Card (BCC) for Mexican citizens age 15 and over, and the waiver of the two year residency requirement fee for certain J exchange visitors. Specifically, the Department proposes:
- To increase the non-petition based NIV fee from $160 to $245 per application. Non-petition-based NIVs include a variety of nonimmigrant visas, such as those for business and tourist travel (B1/B2); students and exchange visitors (F, M and J); crew and transit visas (C and D); representatives of foreign media (I) and other country-specific visa classes, as well as BCCs for applicants age 15 or older who are citizens of and resident in Mexico.
- To increase fees for all petition based NIVs related to employment in the United States from $190 to $310. Petition-based NIVs include categories for temporary workers and trainees (H); intracompany transferees (L); aliens of extraordinary ability (O); athletes, artists, and entertainers (P); international cultural exchange participants (Q); and religious workers (R).
- To increase the E category NIV fee from $205 to $485.
- To increase the J waiver fee from $120 to $510.
DOS will accept comments on the proposed rule until February 28, 2022.
