MANILA, Philippines — The United States Embassy in Manila has announced that starting today, April 13, new visa fees will take effect for both immigrant and non-immigrant visas to the US.
In a press statement, the embassy said that although fees for some non-immigrant visas will increase, including tourist, business visas, and student visas and others, fees for all immigrant visas, as well as those for fiancé/fianceé visas and trader/investor visas, will decrease. It explained that the reduction in the immigrant visa fees is due to a new US law that allows the US Department of State to seek reimbursement from other federal agencies such as the US Citizenship and Immigration Service.
"US embassies must collect higher fees for tourist and other types of non-immigrant visas because US law requires the Department of State to recover the costs of processing those types of visas," said the embassy adding that the new fees more accurately reflect the costs of visa processing services as determined in a US government study completed last December.
According to the US embassy visa application fees paid before April 13 at the prior rate will be honored through July 12.
source: mb.com.ph
