CONSULAR NOTICE

United States Government Announces Worldwide Revision of Machine Readable Visa Application Fee

December 14, 2007

NEW DELHI -- The U.S. Department of State is revising the worldwide nonimmigrant Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee from $100 to $131 effective January 1, 2008.  The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi encourages all applicants currently holding an MRV visa application fee receipt, but who have not yet scheduled their visa appointment to do so immediately, as the $100 receipts will expire on January 31, 2008.

Online appointments for those holding current receipts are scheduled through the Embassy's service provider VFS at www.vfs-usa.co.in.  Receipts purchased after January 1, 2008, regardless of the interview date, will be at the new rate -- $131.

Visa applicants who paid the $100 application fee and who appear for an interview after January 31, 2008 will be required to bring a non-refundable demand draft for the $31 difference in fee.
 
Because the U.S. Mission in India will not be able to significantly increase the number of visa appointments in January, travelers are cautioned against speculative purchases of $100 MRV appointment receipts in December.  In addition, applicants who have not yet purchased a MRV fee receipt from HDFC bank are encouraged to wait until 2008 to pay the application fee to avoid the inconvenience of obtaining a demand draft for the $31 fee difference after January 31, 2008.

The fee adjustment is the first since 2002 and reflects some of the additional costs of administering nonimmigrant visas services.  The increase in the visa fee correlates with domestic inflation in India since the last increase in 2002, the fact the visa fee is rendered less expensive in real terms by the recent appreciation of the rupee, and the elimination of the $50 reciprocal visa issuance fee in 2006. 

For more information on U.S. nonimmigrant visa procedures please visit www.vfs-usa.co.in or http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov.  Please note that these websites will be updated in the days and weeks to come.