New US Passport And Visa Fees

From the State Department's website:

"New Passport Fees - Effective July 13"

Note: the prices in bold are the new prices effective July 13, 2010. The other price is the current one.

Non-Immigrant Visa Fees:

- Nonimmigrant visa application $131.00 $140.00

1. H, L, O, P and R categories $131.00 $150.00

2. E Visas $131.00 $390.00

3. K Visa $131.00 $350.00

4. BCC Adult $131.00 $140.00

Immigrant Visa Fees

Application Processing Fee

1. Family-based immigrant visa $355.00 $330.00

2. Employment-based immigrant visa $355.00 $720.00

3. Other immigrant visas (SIVs, DVs, etc.) $355.00 $305.00

IV Security Surcharge $45.00 $74

Diversity Visa Lottery surcharge $375.00 $440.00

Domestic review of Affidavit of Support $70.00 $88.00

Determining Returning Resident Status $400.00 $380.00

Passport Fees:

Passport Book - adult $100.00** $135.00

Passport Book - minor $85.00** $105.00

Passport Book Renewal - Adult $75.00 $110.00

Additional passport visa pages - $82.00 (currently free)

Passport Card - Adult $45.00 $55.00

Passport Card - Child $35.00 $40.00

Consular Report of Birth Abroad $65.00 $100.00

Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship - $450.00

File Search and Verification of U.S. Citizenship $60.00 $150.00

Overseas Citizens Services:

Disposition/Shipment of Remains of a non-U.S. Citizen $265.00 + expenses $200.00 + expenses Documentary Services

Notarials, Certifications of True Copies, Authentications, provision of Department of State records $30.00 (first),20.00 (addt'l)$50.00

Judicial Services:

Processing Letters Rogatory & FSIA $735.00 $2,275.00

Taking Depositions or Executing Commissions:

1. Scheduling/Arranging Depositions $475.00 $1,283.00

2. Attending or Taking Depositions $265.00/hr + expenses $309.00/hr + expenses

3. Swearing in Witnesses $265.00/hr + expenses $231.00/hr + expenses

4. Supervising Telephone Depositions $265.00/hr + expenses $231.00/hr + expenses

5. Providing Seal and Certification $70.00 $415.00

Administrative Services

Consular Time Charges (per hour) $265.00 $231.00

Use of Passport Fees

Passport application fees are not only used to cover the costs of producing a U.S. Passport Book or Passport Card. Passport fees also cover the costs of providing emergency services for American citizens overseas in crisis situations, such as the current earthquake disaster in Haiti, helping Americans who have been the victims of crime while traveling or living abroad, and providing support to the families of American citizens who have died overseas.

Passport application fees enable us to keep up with technology and implement fraud prevention initiatives to protect the United States passport. The security features of the U.S. passport book have received high praise from document security specialists the world over. Investing in new technology to prevent passport fraud is one of our key priorities, and an ongoing initiative.

Passport fees fund the expansion of passport infrastructure and service, allowing us to offer more timely service to the traveling public, maintain high standards for adjudication in accordance with US citizenship laws, and provide appropriate attention to fraud vulnerabilities.

Over the last few years, the demand for passports has increased to an average of 15 million per year. In FY 2005, we issued 10.1 million passports; peaked at 18.4 million in FY 2007; and expect to issue over 15 million in FY 2010. To increase our presence in under served areas, the Department has undertaken a systematic expansion of the passport network, particularly in communities affected by the land border-crossing requirements associated with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. By the end of FY 2010, we will have 23 agencies providing emergency passport services to the general public, three high-volume application processing centers, and two large-scale document print centers.

Value of the Passport

The U.S. Passport Book and U.S. Passport Card for adults are valid for ten years. Passports for minors under age 16 are valid for five years. The U.S. Passport is not just used for travel anymore. It serves as proof of U.S. citizenship and identity for important purposes such as work authorization and eligibility for many Federal benefits.

^ This is beyond ridiculous. First they force Americans to have passports to re-enter their own country (after 200 + years of not needing one) and then they keep raising the prices. Of course more people are applying for a passport in the past 3 years since it is now required to travel back from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. This is just a way of keeping Americans inside the country - it is a form of exit/entrance permission that was once only seen in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Iron Curtain and other totalitarian countries. Even Russia allows its citizens to travel (by air, rail or land) to certain other countries - such as the Ukraine, Belarus and all the other former Soviet Republics except: Turkmenistan, Georgia and the Baltics - using only their internal passport and not their international passport. That is pretty sad when people in Russia have more freedom of movement than Americans. I am all for requiring foreigners entering the United States to have a passport, but not American citizens. On top of the increase in passport books and cards (luckily I just renewed mine) the price of visas is going up. I thought we wanted to welcome foreign visitors to our country yet we seem to only make laws that push them away. We finger print and take their pictures at both embassies and the border (as though they are guilty until they prove themselves innocent instead of the other way around, we make them get electronic permission before they can enter the country - but that permission still doesn't guarantee they can stay in the US and then we keep raising the visa fees. I don't know what idiots in Congress and the State Department are creating these laws and prices, but it is obvious they do not Americans to have the freedom of movement we enjoyed for 200 + years or to have any foreign visitors to our country. If they want to continue in this way why don't they just build a huge bubble over the United States? That would solve all their problems. ^

http://travel.state.gov/passport/fees/fees_5079.html