Press Releases

Application Fees for Non-Immigrant Visas to Increase  on January 1, 2008

December 19,2007

Effective January 1, 2008, the application fee for a U.S. non-immigrant visa will increase from $100 to $131.   Non-immigrant visas include those issued to business travelers, tourists, students and other categories of visitors who do not intend to reside permanently in the U.S.    This fee increase will allow the U.S. Department of State to recover the costs of security and other enhancements to the non-immigrant visa application process.   The Department of State bases its fees for consular services on the actual costs of providing those services to individuals.  The Department is required by law to recover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas through the collection of the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) application fee. 

  Because of new security-related costs, new information technology systems, and inflation, the $100 MRV fee is lower than the actual cost of processing non-immigrant visas.  The fee has remained unchanged since 2002.  

The Department of State plans to complete its next cost of service study for consular services in 2008 and will review the visa application fee again at that time.

 For information on applying for a U.S. visa, please go to the webpage: http://botswana.usembassy.gov/visas.htm For information on this press release, please contact:  Laona Segaetsho, Information Specialist, Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassytel: 395-3982 Ext: 5419; e-mail: SegaetshoLJ@state.gov.