Department of State Increasing Consular Fees Effective May 30, 2023

The Department of State (DOS) has published a final rule raising several nonimmigrant visa application processing fees. The new fees, which will become effective May 30, 2023, are as follows:

• The application processing fee for H, L, O, P, Q, and R visas will be raised from $190 to $205;

• The fee for nonimmigrant visas under the E visa category (E-1, E-2, E-3) will be raised from $205 to $315;

• The application processing fee for other non-petition based nonimmigrant visas (e.g., B-1, B-2 and F-1) visas will be raised from $160 to $185.

State Department March 2022 Visa Bulletin Summary

The Department of State has released the March Visa Bulletin. D&S provides a Monthly Summary of the employment-based priority dates. USCIS has confirmed that in March 2022, it will accept adjustment of status applications for family- and employment-based petitions based on Dates for Filing. 

With respect to Final Action Dates, EB-1 China and EB-1 India will both remain current. With the exception of India and China, all other EB-2 countries of chargeability will remain current. EB-2 China will remain unchanged at March 1, 2019, and EB-2 India will move forward over four months to May 13, 2013. All EB-3 categories except India and China will remain current. EB-3 China will remain unchanged  at March 22, 2018, and EB-3 India will remain unchanged at January 15, 2012. 

The EB-5 Regional Center program has not been reauthorized by Congress.  As a result, this category will not be available for March 2022. Final action dates for the EB-5 Non-Regional Center program will remain  current for all countries of chargeability. 

With respect to Application Filing Dates, all categories will remain unchanged from December 2021.

Department of State June 2021 Visa Bulletin Summary

The Department of State has released the June 2021 Visa Bulletin. D&S provides a Monthly Summary of the employment-based priority dates. USCIS has advised that, in June 2021, it will continue to accept adjustment of status applications for employment-based petitions based on final action dates. 

With respect to Final Action Dates, EB-1 China and EB-1 India will both remain current. With the exception of India and China, all other EB-2 countries of chargeability will remain current. EB-2 China will advance five months to May 1, 2017 and EB-2 India will advance four months to December 1, 2010. All EB-3 categories except India and China will remain current. EB-3 China will advance four and a half to September 1, 2018, and EB-3 India will advance nine months to November1, 2011.

For the EB-5 preference category, final action dates remain current for June for all countries of chargeability except for China, which moves forward one month to a September 15, 2015 final action date, and for Vietnam, which advances two months to an April 15, 2018 final action date. 

With respect to Application Filing Dates, EB-1 China and EB-1 India will remain current. EB-2 China will move forward five months to January 1, 2018. EB-3 China will move forward four months to January 1, 2019. All other categories (with the exception of the “Other Workers”, EB-4 special immigrants, and “Certain Religious Workers” categories) will remain unchanged from May.