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Date Posted: 08:23:28 12/15/07 Sat GMT
Author: Lynn
Subject: Cost of visa to enter U.S. will increase in January (Baltimore Sun)


www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.nat14dec14,0,1025513.story

baltimoresun.com

Cost of visa to enter U.S. will increase in January

Associated Press

December 14, 2007

WASHINGTON


America's admission price is going up.

Even though the dollar is weak overseas, beginning in January most people will have to shell out more money for U.S. visas. The higher fee will help pay for increased processing costs caused by new security measures imposed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The State Department said yesterday that it will raise application fees for tourist, business and student visas by 31 percent, from $100 to $131, and for immigrant visas by 6 percent, from $335 to $355, on Jan. 1.

"Because of new security-related costs, new information technology systems, and inflation, the ... fee is lower than the actual cost of processing nonimmigrant visas," a department statement said.

The department is required by law to cover the cost of the additional procedures, including more complete fingerprinting of applicants, through the fees it charges. But since the last price bump in 2002, it has absorbed losses.

"We are now collecting 10 fingerprints from each applicant, and the cost charged by the FBI to review those fingerprints no longer allows us to do this," according to the statement.

It addressed only nonimmigrant visas. But the Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is in charge of the issuance process, confirmed later that immigrant visa fees also would go up Jan. 1 for the same reasons.

It was not immediately clear when the department would announce the higher fees for immigrant visa applications. Unlike tourist, business and student visas, these fees are paid to processing centers in the U.S. and not through U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.

The only foreign visitors unaffected by the increases will be citizens of the 27 mainly European countries that are part of a waiver program and who do not require U.S. visas unless they want to stay in the U.S. for longer than 90 days at one time.

Those countries are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.





Copyright © 2007, The Baltimore Sun

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