Cost Of Visa For America

Would you like to visit America but are worried about the cost of visa for America? You’re not alone. There is a lot to take into consideration such as the amount of time it takes to get an American visa and the cost involved in getting one.

Visa to America is one of the costliest for any European national. The cost begins with around $800 for each visa application. This fee increases if you have to apply for a child visa separately. If you are under 16 years of age, your primary applicant has to pay an additional $1,200 so as to ensure that they are traveling together.

Individuals, who wish to come to Las Vegas and are from outside the US, will require a visa. The fact is that whether you are moving to USA or just visiting Vegas for business or pleasure, every person has to go through the procedure to procure a visa.

Cost Of Visa For America

Whatever the nationality of an individual may be, ultimately, he or she needs to obtain a visa before traveling outside their homeland. And it is this visa that determines which country an individual may visit and for how long a period. In recent years, there have been inclusions of a lot more people in the process of applying for visas, because of increased security measures being implemented around the world.

Fees for non-petition and petition based visas

Non-petition based visas are those that do not require an employer or someone from the US to petition for a person who wants to temporarily live in the US. The applicant can simply submit Form DS-160, Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application and follow the usual steps of paying the fees, scheduling the interview, submitting supporting documents, and attending their interview.

Petition-based visas are those that require an employer or someone from the US to petition for the applicant who wants to temporarily live and work in the US. Before the applicant can submit their Form DS-160, the employer must first submit a petition to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the US Department of State, or the US Homeland Department. The petitioner must also pay a fee for the petition, which can vary depending on the visa.

Here are the application fees for each US nonimmigrant visa:

Visa TypeFee in USDCategory
US Visitor Visas (B-1 visa and B-2 visa)$160Non-Petition Based
C-1 visa for transits to the US$160Non-Petition Based
D visa for airline or ship crewmembers$160Non-Petition Based
F visa for students and academics$160Non-Petition Based
I visa for media and journalists$160Non-Petition Based
J visa for exchange visitors (excluding those applicants sponsored by the US government)$160Non-Petition Based
M visa for vocational students$160Non-Petition Based
TN TD visa for NAFTA professionals$160Non-Petition Based
T visa for victims of human trafficking$160Non-Petition Based
U visa for victims of criminal activity$160Non-Petition Based
H visas for temporary workers (H-1B visa, H-1B1 visa, H-2A visa, H-2B visa, H-3 visa, H-4 visa)$190Petition Based
L visas for intracompany transfers (L-1 visa, L-2 visa)$190Petition Based
O visas for persons with extraordinary abilities (O-1 visa, O-2 visa, O-3 visa)$190Petition Based
P visa for athletes, entertainers, and artists$190Petition Based
Q visa for international cultural exchanges$190Petition Based
R visa for religious workers$190Petition Based
E visa for traders and investors (E-1 visa, E-2 visa, E-3 visa)$205Petition Based
K visa for a fiancé or spouse of a US citizen$265.00Petition Based

Besides the petition and non-petition based non-immigrant visas, there also other categories and fees that must be paid such as:

  • For the Border Crossing Card for Mexican Citizens, the application fee for applicants over 15 years old is 160.00 USD, while for those under 15 years old, it is 16.00 USD.
  • For petitioners for the L visas, there is also a fee of 500.00 USD for fraud detection and prevention
  • For petitioners for H visas, there is a fee of 4,500.00 USD for petitioning to the US institutions to bring a foreign temporary worker to the US.

When are fees not necessary for US nonimmigrant visas?

There are also instances where you do not have to pay a fee and that is in these situations:

  • When you apply for A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO, and diplomatic visas.
  • For a J visa applicant sponsored by the US government.
  • To replace a machine-readable visa when the original visa was not well stamped and it was not the applicant’s fault.
  • For applicants who are part of international agreements such as members of staff of the UN Headquarters and their families.
  • For applicants traveling for charity purposes.
  • For US government employees traveling for official business.
  • For parents, siblings, spouse, and children of a US government employee who was killed in the line of duty, and the family is traveling to attend the funeral or burial.

US Nonimmigrant Visa Reciprocity Fees

Another factor which determines how much is a visa to the USA for the nonimmigrant category are the reciprocity fees. These fees are for issuing the visa and for border crossing cards. However, immigrant visas do not have reciprocity fees, but only non-immigrant visas do.

Reciprocity fees depend on the country you are currently residing and applying from, as well as the passport that you have. This fee must be paid before you get your passport back from the US Embassy.

There are situations when an applicant does not have to pay a reciprocity fee and that happens if the applicant is:

  • Part of international agreements such as members of staff of the UN Headquarters or the UN General Assembly, and their families.
  • Transiting to the UN Headquarters.
  • Part of a US government sponsored program and their spouse and children.
  • Traveling for charity purposes.

US Immigrant Visa Fees

The US immigrant visas are those that allow a person to stay permanently in the US where they can live and work. The fees for the immigrant visas are for petitions as well as processing fees.

The fees for the petitions are as follows:

  • Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative costs 535.00 USD
  • Form I-600 or Form I-800, Orphan Immediate Relative Petition costs 775.00 USD

As for processing fees, they depend on the type of visa which you are applying for, and are as follows:

  • Immediate Relative or Family Preference Immigration Applications cost 325.00 USD in addition to the petition
  • Employment-Based Immigration Applications cost 345.00 USD in addition to the petition
  • Other immigration applications (such as self-petitioning) cost 205.00 USD
  • K visa for a fiancé or spouse of a US citizen costs 265.00 USD
  • Certain Afghan or Iraqi special immigrant applications have no fee

Another common fee for most immigrant visas is the Affidavit of Support, which costs 120.00 USD. The fee is paid from US citizen sponsors who can guarantee that they will support the applicant financially until they settle down and can work within the US.

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