Consular Fees Increase as of June 1, 2002
Posted May 31, 2002

Fees for consular services have increased worldwide. The new schedule will be effective as of June 1, 2002. From that time fees will go up for consular services provided by the U.S. Department of State and by the U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad.

The fee hike reflects a rise in the actual costs of providing services. The last major revision of the fee schedule took place in 1998. The need for heightened security measures is responsible for some of the cost increases. One example of this is the non-immigrant visa fee, which will go from $45.00 to $65.00. A portion of this $20.00 difference covers the cost of the Machine Readable Visa and processing through required security checks. The immigrant visa fee will increase only slightly, from $325.00 to $335.00. The fees to American citizens abroad will also increase for items such as Consular Report of Birth Abroad.