US Embassy to increase visa fees

[proud_bisaya 3]

US Embassy to increase visa fees

By MADEL R. SABATERMay 25, 2010, 8:21pmThose who are seeking to have a non-immigrant US visa would have to shell out an additional US$9 (approximately P405) beginning June 4, 2010 as the United States Embassy in the Philippines announced Tuesday that it will be increasing its non-immigrant application visa fees in a bid to “cover increasing costs of providing highest-quality service.”

The Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fees of the US will increase worldwide with the US Embassy in Manila to collect new visa fees for appointments made for June 4 or later, from $131 to $140, according to the US Embassy.

“The new fee for tourist/business visas (B1/B2 category), seafarer/crew visas (C1/D), student visas , and exchange visitor visas (J) will be $140 or the equivalent in pesos. The new MRV fee for work visas (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) will be $150.

Trader/investor visas (E) will rise to $390. Fiancé/Spouse (K) visas will be $350. All other non-immigrant categories will be $140,” the US Embassy disclosed.

Those with appointment dates before June 4 will pay the current rate at $131 but those with an interview date of June 4 or later must pay the new rate for MRV, even if they have already made an appointment and paid at the old rate of $131, according to the US Embassy.

“The Embassy requests that visa applicants who have already paid the MRV fee of $131 for an appointment scheduled after June 4 pay for the difference in fees at the same bank branch where they made the initial $131 payment,” it said. “You will need to present both blue MRV fee receipts when you arrive at the Embassy.”

“You will not be allowed to enter the Embassy for your interview unless the full MRV fee has been paid,” it added.

The US Embassy also clarified that the conversion to the online form is not related to the worldwide visa fee increase.

It will be recalled that beginning last Monday (May 24), all US non-immigrant visa (NIV) applicants were requested to secure an application online as part of its bid towards promoting green technologies.

[bmagno23 0]

rnx for the headsup!

[Fudpukker 18]

This f#cken sucks...................

[paulmherrie 1]

Bad News for everyone with upcoming interviews.

[Fudpukker 18]

Bad News for everyone with upcoming interviews.

Yeah................totally sucks.................

[Jared and May 16]

Ugh as if the K1 wasn't expensive enough.. Sorry to hear about this for anyone with an upcoming interview...

[proud_bisaya 3]

ohhhhh from $131- to $ 350 = imagine $ 219 increase totally sucks

I cant hold my breath with this

[sweet angel 5]

OMG!! that's really expensive..

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Makes the CR/IR-1 route look a little better, only $50 more for the interview and you pay $70 for Affidavit of Support before the interview but you don't have to deal with the $940 ($1,010 minus $70 for AOS) additional fees for Adjusting Status after entry.

Only real difference in processing time lately seems to be 1 month @ NVC Stage for Document & Fee Collection but then we get our interviews set by NVC (and you can even get it moved up a bit if you're quick and persistent.

[Michael and Ivy 1]

Makes the CR/IR-1 route look a little better, only $50 more for the interview and you pay $70 for Affidavit of Support before the interview but you don't have to deal with the $940 ($1,010 minus $70 for AOS) additional fees for Adjusting Status after entry.

Only real difference in processing time lately seems to be 1 month @ NVC Stage for Document & Fee Collection but then we get our interviews set by NVC (and you can even get it moved up a bit if you're quick and persistent.

Wished we would have done CR1 now!!!

[Fudpukker 18]

Well this is done to their advantage, they know that no matter how high they raise it we will not change our minds and say FORGET IT because of the price increase.....