The fee will be adjusted to inflation and the payment will be required at the time of issuing the visa, without exemption from rates for people with low income
The United States will charge an additional fee of at least $ 250 (213 euros to the current exchange rate) on the visas of all foreigners entering the country as visitors, including students, and taxing asylum requests.
The rate of visitors visas, approved in President Donald Trump’s recent budget law, will be added to the established rates.
Designed “visa integrity rate”, it is intended for all foreigners entering the country with a non-immigrant visa, including tourists, business visas and international students.
The United States will issue nearly 11 million non -immigrant visas by 2025, according to state department data.
A state department spokesman told CNN that the fee was created “to support” Trump administration immigration priorities.
According to the new law, the holders of visa subjects subject to the fee may be reimbursed later, provided that they comply with the visa restrictions, such as the country’s departure up to five days after it expires.
However, the law does not specify as the holders of visas may request the reimbursement of the fee, or how it will be charged, the CBS said.
The Congress Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the new rate could reduce the federal deficit by $ 28.9 billion over the next ten years.
The internal security department has the authority to increase the current rate, in accordance with the legislation signed by the President on July 4.
The fee will be adjusted to inflation and payment will be required at the time of issuing the visa, without exemption from rates for low income.
The law also imposes increases in fees for other requests for immigration. For example, for the first time, asylum applicants should not only pay an asylum fee – set at 100 dollars – but also an additional $ 100 fee for each year the order is pending.
According to CBS calculations, student visa applicants, who already need to pay an application fee of $ 185 and a $ 350 fee for the student and exchange visitors program, will have to pay their visa a total of $ 785, including the additional $ 250 fee.
Asylum applicants may have to support total registration fees of over $ 1,150 under the new law, when the process was free, according to the American Immigration Council (AIC, in the English acronym).
The AIC said in a statement that these “high” rates block access to these services to people who cannot support extra payments.
Many tourists do not need a visa due to the visa exemption program, which allows residents of more than 40 countries – including Portugal – to enter the United States automatically for a period of less than 90 days.
