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K-1 Visa Interview Fees May be Raised

By Ben Hart

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 20Jan2010 Word count: 470 Viewed: 471 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

United States Immigration can be a complicated area of US law because it is based almost entirely upon the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act which are periodically altered by the US Congress. Immigration rules and regulations also routinely change as the rules are amended, dropped, or adopted. The following article looks at a recently proposed rule and how it may impact future petitioners and beneficiaries.

It has come to this author's attention that there is a proposed rule that originated at the Department of State which would increase the fees for Consular processing of United States dual intent non-immigrant K visas. If the proposed rule is adopted then anyone who makes an application for a visa interview at a United States Embassy or Consulate abroad will need to pay three hundred and fifty US dollars. Currently, the fee for this same service is one hundred and thirty-one US dollars. Many in the legal community and amongst the prospective immigrant population are asking the question: why is this fee being increased so substantially?

The reason being directly cited by the American Department of State is a need to adjust the fees to a level which accurately reflects the amount of time, resources, and labor expended by State Department personnel in adjudicating such cases. This author could not agree with this rationale more as he has personally witnessed the diligent efforts of Consular Officers in adjudicating these petitions. At the present time, a K1 or K3 visa petition must be adjudicated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) before it will be forwarded to the National Visa Center and ultimately sent to the United States Embassy or Consulate abroad. Some applicants and petitioners are under the mistaken belief that the fees paid to USCIS are all inclusive and represent the only processing and administrative fees that need to be paid in order to obtain a K-1 or K-3 visa. In reality, there are other administrative fees which must be paid. Most notably, a Consular processing fee must be paid to the US Embassy before the visa interview. This fee is commonly referred to as the "visa interview fee." In many cases, another fee must also be paid in order to obtain a medical examination for the alien fiancee.

The proposed rule will probably have a significant impact upon those who are awaiting USCIS adjudication of an I-129f petition (the petition for a K1 fiance visa). These petitioners will be impacted because after USCIS processes the application and it gets sent on to the Embassy the rule might have come into effect thereby requiring the petitioner to pay the proposed $350 fee. Therefore, anyone submitting a petition for a K1 visa should keep in mind that the Consular processing fee may be increased while their petition is pending.

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