Visitors for business or tourism purposes to the US will have to pay a higher visa fee for their application starting on Tuesday, May 30.
According to a press release by the US Department of State, the application fee for these categories (B1/B2s), as well as student and exchange visitor visas, will have to pay $185 instead of $160 starting next week, VisaGuide.World reports.
In addition, the application fee for non-immigrant visas for temporary workers in the H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories has been raised from $190 to $205, while the application fee for a treaty trader, investor or applicants in a speciality occupation which makes up the E category will start paying $315 instead of $205.
The authorities also informed that other consular fees wouldn’t be affected by this rule, such as the waiver of the two-year residency fee for specific exchange visitors.
“Visa fees are calculated based on the results of an annual study of the cost of service. The fees for most non-petition-based NIVs were last updated in 2012, and certain other NIV fees were last updated in 2014,” the authority explains.
Visas for work and tourism are essential to President Biden’s foreign policy, and international travel has an important role in the country’s economy.
In general, visa application prices for student and exchange visitor visas will be up by 15.6 per cent, those for temporary workers will increase by 7.8 percent, while the highest increase in visa application fees will be for those in the EU category, increasing by 53.6 percent.
As the visa fees increase, the interest in travel to the US is expected to surge in 2023, with international tourism organizations revealing high remarks for American tourism.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the sector is expected to exceed 2019’s levels in 2023, generating $2.24 trillion for the US economy. In 2019, tourism brought $2.17 trillion to the national wallet.
At the same time, tourism is anticipated to create 1.2 million jobs, recovering the many occupations lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually, the number of jobs created due to tourism is expected to reach 17.4 million. However, the number of international tourists visiting the country has slimmed down due to COVID-19, and those rates will take some time to recover.
“International visitor spending is still lagging, and despite the recent surge, we are still lagging 25 percent behind 2019 levels,” WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson noted.
In 2022, the GDP contribution of the Travel and Tourism sector increased by 16.9 percent to reach more than two trillion, representing 7.9 percent of the US economy and heading towards the 2019 level of 2.17 trillion.
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