Africa-Press – Uganda. Ugandans seeking to travel to the United States willl, starting at the end of this month, pay between $15 (Shs55,526) and $115 (Shs427,342) more in visa application fees, depending on the visa type.
This follows an announcement yesterday by the US government that it was increasing fees for all visa categories for applicants worldwide effective May 30.
A statement released by the US State Department indicates that the application fee for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s and other non-petition-based NIVs such as student and exchange visitor (F/M/J) visas will increase from $160 to $185 (from Shs592,766 to Shs685,386) while that for certain petition-based non-immigrant visas (NIV) for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q and R categories) will increase from $190 to $205 (Shs703,910 to Shs759,482).
Specialty occupation
According to the US statement, the application fee for a treaty trader, treaty investor, and treaty applicant in a specialty occupation (E category) will increased from $205 to $315 (Shs759,482 to Shs1,2 million).
“Applicants who have already paid a visa application fee that is currently valid and non-expired, but who have not yet appeared for their visa interview or are waiting for their case to be processed; and applicants who pay the fee before the May 30, 2023 fee increase, will not have to pay the fee difference,” the statement indicates.
“All non-immigrant visa application fee (also known as the Machine Readable Visa fee or MRV fee) payments made on or after October 1, 2022, are valid for 365 days from the date a receipt is issued for payment of the MRV fee. Applicants must schedule an interview appointment or submit an interview waiver application during this 365-day period.
“Please note applicants must only schedule their interview or submit their interview waiver application within the 365-day period. There is no requirement the interview must occur during the 365-day period. All receipts for payment of MRV fees issued before October 1, 2022, were extended until September 30, 2023, and remain valid until this date,” the statement adds.
The US also notes that NIV fees are set based on the actual cost of providing NIV services and are determined after conducting a study of the cost of these services. The Department uses an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodology to calculate, annually, the cost of providing consular services, including visa services.
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