Press Releases

New Visa Fee: $100 increasing to $131 on January 1, 2008

The United States Department of State is increasing the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) application fee for non-immigrant visas (NIVs) to 131 US Dollars effective January 1, 2008.  The US Embassy in Kigali will accept for 30 days (until January 31, 2008) those applicants who paid the old $100 fee prior to January 1.  All applicants paying for their visa applications after January 1 must pay the full $131.
 
The MRV processing fee is paid by all visa applicants, worldwide, with certain exceptions pertaining to government officials.  It must be paid in advance, whether or not the visa is granted. (Nationals of certain countries also pay a reciprocal issuance fee based on similar fees Americans get charged for visas to visit those countries, but Rwandans currently do not.)

The reason for this increase is straightforward – the $100 MRV fee was already lower than actual cost of providing NIV services when the State Department’s Cost of Service Study was completed in 2004.  Since then, there have been new security-related costs, new IT systems that have been put in place, and inflation has caused overall costs to rise.  Beginning January 1, 2008, the Department of State must pay for FBI ten-fingerprint and namecheck services, and must raise the MRV fee in order to avoid a significant shortfall.
At this time, the new $131 visa fee more accurately reflects the current total cost of visa services per applicant.  This increase will be provisional until a new Cost of Service Study is completed at the end of 2008.  For more information on applying for a visa, please visit: http://kigali.usembassy.gov/how_to_apply.html

In summary:

- Those applicants who paid the prior $100 application fee before January 1, 2008 will be processed without further payment only if they appear for a visa interview before January 31, 2008.

- Applicants who paid the prior $100 application fee and appear for visa interviews after January 31, 2008 must pay the difference -- $31 -- before they will be interviewed.

- Any payments made after January 1, 2008, regardless of the interview date, must be for the full $131 USD fee.