Department of State Amends Fees for Consular Services

The Department of State has issued an interim final rule amending the schedule of fees for consular services for nonimmigrant visa applications, border crossing card applications, and immigrant visa applications.

The rule increases from $140 to $160 the fee for processing most non-petition-based nonimmigrant visas (machine-readable visas, or MRVs) and border crossing cards (BCCs) for Mexican citizens 15 years of age and above. The rule also amends application processing fees for certain categories of petition-based nonimmigrant visas and treaty trader and investor visas (all of which are also MRVs), and amends tiered application processing fees for immigrant visas. Finally, the rule increases from $14 to $15 the BCC fee charged to Mexican citizen minors who apply in Mexico, and whose parent or guardian already has a BCC or is applying for one, based on a congressionally mandated surcharge.

The interim final rule is effective April 13, 2012. Written comments must be received on or before May 29, 2012. The rule, which includes instructions on submitting comments, is available as PDF.