USA Green Card Immigration Blog

The deadline for submission of entries to the 2009 US Visa Lottery was November 30, 2009.  If you did not register in time for 2009, you can now register for the 2010 program!  Read more information and complete the application here:  http://www.usa-green-card.com

The Department of State, on December 14, 2009, published a proposed rule to increase the U.S non-immigration visa application fees, also called as the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fee and Border Crossing Card (BCC) fees. The non-immigration visa application fees have been raised from its current $131 to $140 and the immigration rule is published in the Federal Register. The proposed rule will bring a layered structure with separate fees based upon the visa category.

The proposed new non-immigration visa application fees are meant to cover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas and border crossing cards. Border crossing cards are issued to certain adult applicants in Mexico. Basically this proposal is initiated to overpower the growing cost of processing non-immigrant visas (NIVs). Some of the categories of non-immigrant visas are very intricate that need profound consideration than other categories of non-immigrant visas, resulting in higher costs.

Under the newly proposed immigration rule, the following visa categories will pay the new non-immigration visa application fees that include

• E (treaty trader and investor)

• H (temporary worker or trainee)

• K (fiancé(e))

• L (Intracompany transferee)

• O (alien with extraordinary ability)

• P (athlete, artist or entertainer)

• Q (international cultural exchange visitors)

• R (religious worker).

Visas that are not petition-based, such as B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas are required to pay a fee of $140. Petition-based visas would pay $150 for an application. This category includes H visa for temporary workers and trainees, L visa for Intracompany transferees, O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability, P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers, Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors, and R visa for religious occupations. The K and E visa applications will cost $350 and $390 respectively.

The new immigration rule regarding the U.S non-immigrant visa application fees will come into effect only after the Department of State considering public comments.