US Embassy to increase visa fees (manila philippines)

[Brian&Mimi 0]

US Embassy to increase visa fees

By MADEL R. SABATER

May 25, 2010, 8:21pm

Those 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.

Latest update for those who will apply k1 visa.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Osa_and_Mimi

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