U.S. Non-immigrant Visa Application Fee to Increase from January 1, 2008

Riga, December 14, 2007 - Starting from January 1, 2008, applicants for U.S. non-immigrant visas worldwide will be subject to the new non-immigrant visa application fee of $ 131 per applicant. The U.S. State Department is raising the fee to ensure that sufficient resources are available to meet the costs of non-immigrant visa processing. The non-immigrant visa application fee was last raised in October 2002 to the current rate of $ 100 per applicant. The new fee was established in the result of the most recent Cost Of service Study conducted by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. State Department.

Persons applying for U.S. visas with Embassy Riga are required to pay the visa application fee in Latvian lats at any branch of SEB Unibanka. Pursuant to the exchange rate as set by Embassy Riga the new fee equivalent to $ 131 is Ls 65.50. All payments made by visa applicants after January 1, 2008 must be for the full new fee of Ls 65.50.

Visa applicants who file their documents with the Embassy in January with SEB Unibanka receipts that show that they paid the old Ls 55.00 fee (equivalent to $ 100) prior to January 1, 2008 will not be required to pay the new Ls 65.50 fee or pay the difference.

Starting from February the Embassy will require full payment of the U.S. non-immigrant visa application fee of Ls 65.50. Therefore, those visa applicants who paid the visa application fee of Ls 55.00 in 2007 and were unable to file their applications for U.S. visas before February 2008, will have to pay the difference with any office of SEB Unibanka.

Full instructions on the current U.S. visa application process and the required documents are available at www.usembassy.lv. Further questions pertaining to the U.S. visa application process should be addressed to the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Riga by telephone at. 703-6200 or by e-mail at askconsular@usriga.lv.

U.S. Embassy, Riga, Public Affairs Section
Smilšu iela 7
Rīga, LV 1050
Phone: 371 750-9022
Internet: http://riga.usembassy.gov
Media specialist’s e-mail: dilanes@state.gov; lubinad@state.gov