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The Non-Immigrant Visa Fees To Enter The United States Border Crossing Cards |
 U.S. Immigration - Non-Immigrant Visa Fees to Increase World-wide on January 1, 2008
The fee to apply for any non-immigrant visa to enter
the United States, including tourist, business, student and other
visas, will increase to $131 dollars world-wide. This same fee
increase will also apply to Border Crossing Cards (commonly known as
"Laser Visas") for applicants in Mexico. Mexican nationals under the
age of 15 applying in Mexico for a tourist visa or border crossing card
will continue to have the option to pay an application fee of $13.00
for a visa that will not extend past their 15th birthday.
Application fees of $100 paid prior to January 1, 2008, will be accepted until January 31, 2008. After January 31, all applicants will be required to have paid the equivalent of $131 dollars at the time of processing, regardless of the date of original application.
Procedures for payment of visa fees in Mexico will not change: all applicants for non-immigrant visas to visit the United States, regardless of nationality, should pay the peso equivalent of the visa application fee at any Banamex branch.
The Department of State must periodically adjust fees, whether for visas or other services provided, to comply with U.S. federal legislation requiring it to recuperate the costs of services through fees charged directly to the users of those services. Advances in security, information processing systems and inflation have increased processing costs for both immigrant and non-immigrant visas, as well as for certain services provided to U.S. citizens.
Since 2004 the actual cost of processing non-immigrant visa applications has exceeded the revenue from visa application fees. The last fee increases for non-immigrant visas occurred in 2002.
Additionally, the U.S. government is continually upgrading its services and facilities throughout Mexico. In Ciudad Juarez a facility is under construction that will become the world's largest processing center for immigrant visas. Consular sections in Mexico City, Monterrey and Matamoros will also benefit from major construction projects in the next two years, designed to greatly increase their capacity to serve visa applicants. A new building in Tijuana will provide a space to process over 400,000 non-immigrant visas annually.
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