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USA visa fee increased by 30pc
ISLAMABAD, Dec 18, 2007: The United States has increased its visa fee by over
30 per cent to foot the bill for enhanced security costs, a statement issued by
the US embassy said on Monday.
The application fee for a US non-immigrant
visa has been raised from the existing $100 to $131. The increase will be
effective from January 1, next year, the statement said.
However, 27
countries mostly the European states will remain exempt from the
increase.
The fee escalation was necessitated as the US decided to take
10 fingerprints of each applicant at the airports and other entry ports last
month.
"We are now collecting 10 fingerprints of each applicant, and the
cost charged by the FBI to review those fingerprints no longer allows us to
retain the existing fee," the statement said. The application fee has been
raised twice since 9/11.
The increase is adopted partly because of
increased processing costs and security enhancements implemented since 9/11
terrorist attacks in the United States, the statement said.
"Because of
new security-related costs, new information technology systems, and inflation,
the existing fee is lower than the actual cost of processing non-immigrant
visas," it said.
The US embassy emphasized that a cost of service study
had revealed as back as 2004 that $100 fee was much lower than the actual cost
of processing immigrant visas. The State Department, it said, was bearing the
additional cost.
The embassy further clarified that all those applicants,
who had filed applications before January 1, 2008, but are scheduled for
interviews after January 31, would have to pay the additional amount as
well. Dawn
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